Peace between nations, according to Isaiah, is not just about the absence of war but comes from the hard work of creating tools of peace rather than tools of war.  This is a challenging concept and one we may think is beyond us as individuals.

Recently, I have been reading the book Three Cups of Tea.  It is the story of an American mountaineer, Greg Mortenson, who recuperated in the small Pakistani village of Korphe after a failed attempt to climb K2 in the Karakoram Mountains.  Mortenson, inspired by the kindness he received from the people of the village, promised he would return to build them a school.  Overcoming many obstacles as significant as those of climbing a treacherous mountain, Mortenson does return to keep his promise.  Not only that, he continues to build schools in this region near the birthplace of the Taliban.  The subtitle of the book is “One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time”.  A quote from Tom Brokaw on the book’s cover reads in part, “proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”

Isaiah’s famous vision of the path to peace is not so different from endeavors like Mortenson’s to build schools in an isolated, mountainous community.  There are so many ways each of us could “beat swords into plowshares, …spears into pruning hooks.”  It calls on our ‘character and determination.’  More than that, it calls for a belief that our individual efforts can and do make a difference!