I was blessed on Monday night to have a few minutes before the concert to chat with John Langford, the guest speaker who was the inspiration for the creation of The Madison — a 15 unit apartment building to provide housing for homeless vets in Calgary.

John recently returned from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan where he consulted with the Afghan National Police in the restructuring of their police force. John spent last Christmas in Afghanistan. “It was different to spend it in a Muslim country,” he said.

There were no twinkling lights, no Christmas tree adorned with decorations and glitter. No carols playing, no sleigh bells ringing. There was just the company of the men and women of his unit, gathered together in a unique bond that is formed by those for whom service to country lead them far from home.

When I asked John for a memorable moment of the year-long deployment, he spoke about the times he spent with his family, about a solo trip to India and his wonder at the diversity and complexity of that nation.

And he spoke about fear.

It wasn’t the fear of bombs falling from the sky, or parked cars exploding — though those were real and always present.

It was the fear of the person next to you. The man serving your meal. The fellow Afghan instructor who has been ‘turned by the Taliban’, as John put it. It was the constant vigilance of never turning your back on your cohorts in the room, that was what caused the most fear. That was what caused the most anxiety.

John described how the Taliban encouraged “green on blue” killings. (Green being the Afghans, blue their western visitors.) How they coerced members of the Afghan police force, and those working in the camp, to do their bidding by threatening to kill their families. “And they did,” said John. “They killed their families if they didn’t do their bidding.”

These men enter the police force with good intention, John told me. They want to make a difference. They want to serve and protect, to hold the peace. And then, their peace of mind is shattered by the threats against which they have no defense.

What would you do?

And my heart cries for our fellow human beings.

What are we doing to our relations?

How do we stop killing one another when we cannot make peace at home?

I know I can’t stop the killing in Afghanistan. I know I cannot silence the guns in Syria or calm the masses in Egypt.

I know all of this and still I want to.

I want to reach out and embrace the world in arms of love that will forever quiet the fear and hatred that drives us to kill. I want to quiet the anger and separateness, the loathing and misunderstanding that compels us to harm one another.

I want to make peace.

Let peace begin with me.

It is advent. A time when we prepare our hearts and minds and souls for the coming of a child whose promise of peace, hope, love and joy has lived in the western world for over 2,000 years.

In evolutionary time, that is not much time.

And I wonder, what came first? War or peace.

And I think I know the answer.

There had to be peace for us to know the might of war. There had to be peace to know, war kills. Hope. Possibility. Dreams. Lives.

And that is what I shall carry into my world today. The knowing that I don’t have to ‘make love, not war’. Love already is. What I need to be at peace today, to create peace all around me, is to continually remember, Love. To move through my day, in all my words, deeds, thoughts and actions, in Love.

To not give war room to breathe, I must always move in Love.

I spoke with an amazing man on Monday night about his experiences in a world I do not understand. In his words, I understand a little better. And in that understanding, compassion grows. And in compassion, my heart expands. I cannot make peace through making war. Peace comes through a loving heart.

And in that conversation I realize that I cannot be a peace-maker when I say, “I do not understand.” Understanding is the foundation of compassion. Compassion is the catalyst for peace.

And so, my contribution today to creating peace in the world is to see through compassionate eyes all that is happening in the world so that I can better understand all that is going on in your world. To allow my heart to know your heart.  To step in and through and with Love, no matter the chaos, no matter the sorrow and strife. To acknowledge Love as my True North guiding me home to my heart where peace, hope, love and joy expand into the world around me in never-ending ripples of possibility.