© 2025, Tony Harwood-Jones
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Living Well, When There is No Peace
In crises, loss, and pain, how should we react?
“It’s easier to write about Hell than about Heaven.” This is my own version of something that C.S. Lewis wrote many years ago.
Lewis, best known for his Christian writings and his fantasy fiction about the world of Narnia, was a British professor of English literature, and, in a commentary about the work of John Milton, he once noted that Milton’s “Paradise Lost” – a poem about the Devil – has, for three hundred years, been widely known, and commented upon, but his “Paradise Regained” – a poem about Jesus – has been almost completely forgotten.
You can see the truth of this “Hell vs. Heaven” theory, in the news, and on the Internet: crime, war, disasters, tariffs, and many more equally disturbing things get plenty of attention. Peace, and love, and prosperity? Not so much.
I was born during World War II. And, in 1945, I was old enough to understand the significance of the victory parades, and to celebrate when my Dad came home from the armed forces. Then, for the next eighty years, I have had the wonderful good fortune of living in Canada – a country of peace, and prosperity; a comfortable life that I, and many of my fellow-Canadians pretty much took for granted. True, there has been crime, but the Mounties would [usually] “get their man.” There has always been disease, but Banting and Best discovered Insulin; and with the work of scientists of several countries, Polio, Smallpox, and many other diseases were nearly eliminated, so that life expectancy – especially in North America – got longer and longer.
The rest of the world has not been so fortunate. In 2011, 38 million people, worldwide, were refugees or “displaced,” due to war, famine, or various disasters. 38 million was more than the entire population of Canada, at the time. And it got worse. In 2024, 128 million people were identified as refugees or displaced – an increase of 336 % over 2011.
In my comfortable Canadian worldview, I often wondered how I would feel if my life were to be upended, as was the case for all those people. I became aware of how fortunate I am, that, any time I want, I can turn the tap and get water – cold or hot; my home is warm when it is below freezing outside; and I always have enough to eat, of whatever food I like.
But now, due to the political turmoil in the U.S.A., those eighty years of Canadian peace and prosperity may be coming to an end. And, isn’t it remarkable how, for many of us, we don’t appreciate what we’ve got until it is likely to be ripped away?
It’s ironic, too, that threats of skyrocketing prices, unemployment, bankruptcy, and even military invasion are dominating the public conversation in the month of February – the month when we mark Valentine’s Day, and celebrate the people we love, and those who love us?
Can we make ourselves aware of Heaven instead of focussing upon Hell? Can we remind ourselves of the love we give and the love we receive – and of the safe and pleasant years we have enjoyed for eighty years? Hardship cannot and MUST not erase the value of the blessings and love that we have known.
As a Christian, I believe that difficult, even horrible things, can, and do happen to people of faith – but we are helped, by the hand of a loving God, to promote peace, and love, and forgiveness, and care for the poor and the devastated. And, if and when horrible things cannot be stopped, and happen directly to us, our loving God will enable us to live through it all with courage, and with inner peace.
In the Bible we read, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NRSV)
Tony Harwood-Jones
February 19, 2025
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