“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

This is a longer quote than I usually like to include in these short devotional thoughts, but I find it important enough to break my usual practice. Dorothy Day appears on many lists of famous peacemakers. She once famously said, “What we would like to do is change the world — make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of workers, the poor, and the destitute — the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words — we can, to a certain extent, change the world. We can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever-widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat, there is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as our friend.” Peacemakers speak gentle truth. They want a world at peace. They want people’s needs met. They want Jesus clearly visible in their actions. And again, they speak with grace, love, and kindness. Today, speak with gentleness in all situations.#BeTheEdge

“to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.” Titus‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬