4. War and Peace
/Gem #2
Very early in my stroll down the Lenten beach my eye caught sight of this royal blue gem. I can’t remember if it was the first or the second since the gems come out of my pocket in a different order. When I saw this gem I knew instantly that it was valuable like a diamond that spits shiny rainbow stars. It’s valuable because it’s something that everyone wants but only a few people have. You’ll see what I mean later.
Everyone hates war because we can’t stand the thought of the bloody mess that separates fleshy bonds of love, like sons from mothers. Meanwhile, almost every single person alive fires invisible arrows that cause invisible bloody wounds that don’t just separate flesh, but worse. The bloody mess that invisible arrows cause can dissolve love completely. I’d rather be separated in the flesh and close in love than to be separated from love and close in flesh. Who wouldn’t? The invisible world of the spirit needs more anti-war activists.
Most people shoot their arrows without even knowing it. Others shoot without a target at all because they just like to shoot. Some people work at being good archers. It doesn’t matter whether you got shot by an intentional arrow or an unintentional one, it hurts and you want an aspirin.
God knows that aspiring immortals will never be shielded from invisible bullets and arrows, not even if they flee to the desert to escape sharp-shooters, so there must be some good that can come from invisible war, and this is what it is.
Saint John Chrysostom placed this gem on my beach early on to help me see how far I have to go before I am ready for the land of immortality.
When the heart has received hurt, it affects the whole body accordingly. If its temperament be disordered, it mars all, if it be rightly ordered, it profits all. If any other part of the body should become corrupt, while the heart remains sound, it easily shakes off what is evil in them also.
In my words: no one can hurt an immortal heart. A stabbed immortal heart can even heal an aching body.
The most important thing aspiring immortals can do is to make sure that they have not deluded themselves into thinking that the land of milk and honey is just around the corner. That’s why piercing arrows and disappointments may actually be heaven-sent cardiograms.