There was once a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures but there were only two that he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was blue sky with puffy white clouds. All who saw this 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 from which rain fell, and in which lightening played. Down the sides of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the king looked, he saw behind the waterall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There in the midst of the rush of the angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest…perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The king chose the second picture.

Do you know why?

“Because,” explained the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, no trouble, and no hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in you heart. This is the real meaning of peace.”