AND HE ENTERED THE BATTLE BUT HAD NO SWORD

I had a dream earlier this winter in January of 2020, and it seems so spiritually poignant, beautiful and filled with hope that I feel the need to share it.  It went like this: 

I dreamt I was on a battlefield filled with common people who had little or no weapons whatsoever.  These were my friends, family and fellow peoples from all countries, races and creeds from around the world.  All of us had set aside our differences to peacefully join together to do battle with a common enemy that had come to take the lives of every last one of us.

And there we stood, amassed and ready for battle down in a broad valley.  High up on the ridge in the distance we could see our enemy lined up to storm down upon us. 

All I could see of our enemy was a line of about 20 figures silhouetted in black.  They were huge humanoid creatures – each standing about 14 or more feet tall, with heads of different animals much like one would see on Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Even though we outnumbered them millions to their mere 20, we knew they could kill us easily.  They each held a different type of weapon that could strike us all down in a single blow as soon as they had the mind to do so.

But they were waiting… 

They waited because they knew we had a Champion on our side and they feared Him.

I looked around for our Champion, but could not see Him anywhere. Without help, we were doomed.

Then I saw Him at last, descending from the sky like a savior from on high!  He had a great flowing cape and a helmet on His head, but had no sword.

He gently floated down and stood amongst us, surveying the situation.

I wondered how one Champion could save us from the 20 enemies. Though He was as great in stature as the enemy, and blessedly had a human face under His helmet, He held no weapon!

I felt He would be overtaken in battle against these powerful foes.

And if He fell, we would all die with Him.

As if in response to my thoughts, the next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the battlefield.  The Champion was standing over me and had placed one hand on my heart and His other on my forehead.

As He stood thusly, He spoke to me saying, “Conflict is not overcome with a sword, but with peace. Watch closely and learn from what I am about to do.”

I then found myself standing and watched as our Champion fearlessly walked through the throngs of people towards the enemy; arms wide open with His hands outstretched in a gesture of loving peace.

Peace radiated out from Him in a loving power so great the very earth felt as though it might part in front of Him!

And as He approached the enemy, one by one they laid down their weapons, overcome with His loving peace and began walking into the mass of people, warmly embracing each one.

We were incredulous!

And in our astonishment, we embraced the enemy warmly in return, and knew we were enemies no more.  The conflict was forever over.

The conflict and all our fears were healed through our joining in peace and love.

It all seemed too simple to be believed, but I knew it was the truth.

And I also knew we had called our Champion to walk among us to work His Peace through our own loving peace towards one another.  As a people we had called with one unequivocal unified voice for Peace, and He came.

So it is, that fear can only be overcome by each of us doing our part to join together in extending loving peace.

And with that I awoke from the dream.

Amen

(Painting courtesy of artist Kenneth Laugen)