I’m in line at the grocery store, and there is a brand new baby screaming while the dad pays for his groceries. The cry is one of an infant, the one that breaks a parent’s heart, but sends the rest of us into a state of ecstasy. Brand new life! Oh, what a lovey noise that is, we all think. People around me have all stopped what they are doing to gaze on this new babe and I’m sure the dad is thinking, “Get me the heck outta here.”
That squeaky, angry noise is making me think of the many different ways peace arrives in our day. Maybe it doesn’t always arrive, well, peacefully. Maybe it’s terrifying. Maybe it’s eardrum splitting, hair raising shocking. Could it be the baby is passing the peace in the only way the baby knows to do? This is its joyful noise. “Peace be with you,” the baby screams.
The father pushes the baby and the groceries out of the store, and I whisper, “And also with you.”
Merry Christmas.
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