It is March 19, 2023.  I will leave for Tbilisi, Georgia in thirteen days.  I, accompanied by my support committee,  have been doing the interior work of preparation for this trip since well before the turn of the year.  The trip itself will be short - leaving the U.S. on April 1st, arriving Tbilisi on April 3rd and returning home April 15th.   My entire meeting (Gunpowder Friends Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting) will travel with me in Spirit.  How very blessed I am!

I am excited to again be working with my longtime friend Misha,  meeting the principals of Act for Transformation and their partner organizations, meeting with Alternatives to Violence project (AVP) facilitators,  talking about possible internships for young Friends and delivering around forty pounds of books on peace, pacifism, nonviolence and Quaker views on peace donated by Friends at Gunpowder Meeting.  Misha shares that I will have an opportunity to meet with and hear the stories of C.O.s and to share thoughts on classes for Ukrainians to learn English.  Some of this work is completely new to me - I am ready.

For many years  I have defined peacemaking as "a conscious act of love".  Often, the further I travel on this journey, the more simplified things become so that today peacemaking seems simply "conscious love".  Being aware that every embrace, every smile, every kind word, every moment shared in openness and honesty, softens a heart and opens a door.  It is love that takes away the occasion for war.  Each time we touch the heart of one other person, each time we plant another seed of peace we are that much closer.