Shalom

This idea of shalom has been ruminating for the past week. Its good stuff to think about. Shalom = Peace. When someone says the word peace I think of the absence of strife. But this peace is so much more. Enjoyment.


"Shalom is the human being dwelling at peace in all his or her relationships: with God, with self, with fellows, with nature...but the peace which is shalom is not entirely the absence of hostility, not merely being in right relationship. Shalom at it's highest is enjoyment in one's relationships...to dwell in shalom is to enjoy living in one's physical surroundings, to enjoy living with one's fellows, to enjoy life with oneself." - Nicholas Wolterstorff


"Shalom might best be defined as an ideal, described in poetic terms by Old Testament prophets. In shalom, peace and justice come together. But more than that, peace combines with delight and enjoyment in right relationships - with God, with self, with fellow humans and with nature. In shalom, there is peace, but not peace without justice. There is justice, but not justice without enjoyment. In shalom, as Isaiah and others imagined it, the whole creation will come together in such a way that we will delight in each other, in God and in nature itself. - Douglas J. Brouwer


But I'd like to know more. I'm just an eager beaver about this shalom.