Blessed Is the Peacemaker, Jimmy Carter
“…for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts…” This was the cited motivation for James (Jimmy) Earl Carter receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on October 11, 2002.
The plane was about to leave Portland for our return to Chicago when the flight attendant announced that former president, Jimmy Carter, had died earlier that day. It was not a huge surprise since he was 100 years old and had been under hospice care for 22 months, but it gave us an opportunity to pause and reflect. This was no ordinary person, no ordinary life: our 39th president, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a man who worked tirelessly for peace! Blessed is the peacemaker, Jimmy Carter, child of God.
About himself, Mr. Carter said: “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose that something…my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can.” Whether he was teaching Bible classes at his home church in Plains, Georgia, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, serving as President of the Unites States, or traveling around the globe on missions of healing and peacekeeping, he followed what he saw were the demands of his faith. It was said that he never ordered a bullet be fired or a bomb be dropped in the name of peacemaking. Instead, during his presidency, he preferred to be a peacemaker through negotiation, mediation, and civil conversation. His guiding light was Jesus’ way of loving each human being as a child of God – no matter their color, creed, or religious orientation.
After his presidency had ended, Mr. Carter felt that he had unfinished business, so, he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded The Carter Center in partnership with Emory University. This nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization has the mission of improving people’s lives globally by helping to resolve conflicts, advancing democracy and human rights, and improving health. During the 44 years after leaving the White House until his death at 100, Jimmy Carter worked to extend the healing ministry of Jesus. The books he wrote, the Habitat for Humanity houses he built, and the Sunday School classes he taught are examples of the virtuous life he led and his desire to bring dignity and peace to humanity.
Benjamin Franklin said: “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” Similarly, when Mr. Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, he said: “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” Both men understood the power of diplomacy and held the belief that peace is always preferable to war. Mr. Carter was a courageous, compassionate, humble servant-leader and blessed peacemaker whose book of wisdom was the Judeo-Christian Bible, his true north compass. He believed that all women and men are created equally by the loving God who set this world in motion. In his words: “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” Blessed is the peacemaker, Jimmy Carter. This child of God now lives in eternity. Amen.
In God’s Love,
Lanny F. Wilson, MD
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9
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