Praying for Peace

There are certain things that we take for granted on this earth. Life is the greatest thing that one can experience. But can one really imagine what it would be like when one's life is finally taken away at the deathbed ? Life is one mystery God has given us and no man has really come to fully understand it. Once life is taken away from a person, his physical presence on earth comes to an end.

On 28 October 1994, I was admitted into an intensive care unit of a hospital, after collapsing whilst I was at work. The cause of this was later diagnosied to be due to a severe internal bleeding from an ulcer I had in the big intestine. I lost close to two litres of blood of my body within hours. This resulted in me going into a state of shock followed by a coma.

Being in a coma is not an experience one can really describe by any means. It is a state where one is near death, and one can not recall what it is like.

One only feels that he has come back to life when the medical team brings him back to a state of consciousness. There is no feeling at all when one is in a comatose state.

For one to live on this earth one should have the three basic requisites to maintain it. These are food , clothing and shelter. Apart from these basic needs, one should live in a country where there is peace.

Peace, like life, is very difficult to appreciate whilst it lasts. When any country is at war (not at peace) there is a lot suffering of its nationals. This is because of the immense destruction of life and infrastructure.

War can breakout between two or more nations or within a nation. The latter is called a civil war in which the people of the same country fight each other.

A civil war usually breaks out after some time of internal disquiet due to political or ethnic differences.

This is usually caused by one group trying to subdue the other by fraudulent acquisition of political power or having a lion's share of the wealth of the country.

The peace of any country can only be maintained when there is brotherly unit amongst its citizens.

When any war breaks out it is only when it comes to an end, that one appreciates what peace is. It is just like when someone comes out of a coma to appreciate what life is.

Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us of the need for peace in the following passage :

"Now when Jesus realized what they were thinking, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand." (Matthew 12:25).

Let us, therefore, all bow down in prayer everyday, to pray for peace between nations, peace within our own nations and peace within our own families. "With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18). Amen !