Forty days of peace: 3 suggestions for starting peace now

I was pleased to hear from Ode commenter Tim Collardey. He’s written a new ebook about peace called If Flowers Can Grow in Alaska... Creating a More Peaceful World One Person at a Time. His website is www.walkthepeace.com.

His free ebook asks the seminal question of the spiritual life: do I practice what I preach? Do my spiritual values shine through my behaviors? Am I living the spiritual life I say I want to be living? Collardey’s personal challenge centered on the issues of peace and non-violence.

An on-again, off-again Christian, his roots took him to the Gospels for guidance on how to practice peace and nonviolence. For practicing Christians, his 40-day “fast” illumines The Book, the Bible comprising the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Scriptures formerly known as the Old and New Testaments.

Collardey’s ruminations are weighty and brutally honest. He takes a serious look at himself and how he lives his life. My favorite part of this practice is his recommended Action Steps. So often we lay down the task of peace because it’s just so big we don’t know where to start. Consider these:

1. Watch the news of the day and get in touch with people who have a need for peace
in their lives – those affected by wars, in need of donations, etc.
2. If you have a garden, as you tend to its needs today, notice what pain there may be among
the struggling plants, be it pests, lack of water, lack of sun, etc.
3. Examine the many projects and goals in your life, dreams that you wish fulfilled. Ask yourself, are these things you desire or that God wills to be done?

And these are just from the first day of Tim's 40-day fast! Why 40 days is always a fun question. Tim’s quotes are:

“To understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days.” Arabic proverb

“After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark…” Genesis 8:6

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Luke 4:1-4

“Life begins at 40.”

Many years ago, I studied with an Orthodox Rabbi—in a Yentl sort of way—and I asked him about the gematrial significance of forty. He told me it meant as long as it takes. For that reason, when I wrote my first peace book, The Peace Diet, now redubbed, The Peace Feast for Christians, and available free online just like Tim’s, I based it on forty plus four, my favorite number.

Forty is also long enough to form a habit. Do anything for 40 days mindfully and it will change you. That’s what walking in peace is all about.