True Peace

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace.  The king looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.  One picture was of a calm lake.  The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful mountains surrounding it.  Overhead was a blue sky with white puffy clouds.  All who saw the picture thought it was the perfect picture of peace.  The other picture had mountains too but they were rugged and bare.  Above was an angry sky that showered rain and lightning all over the lake. Water roared down the side of the mountain pulling dirt and whatever was in its path. This did not look peaceful at all.  But, when the king looked closely, that behind the raging waterfall there was a tiny bush peeking out of a crack in the rocks.  In the bush he noticed a mother bird had her nest.  There in the midst of this rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest. The king decided to choose the second picture as the winner.  The crowd was surprised and asked how he could pick that picture to be the winner.  He offered the following explanation. I chose this one because peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.  Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.