Peace that Surpasses All Understanding
The Peace That Surpasses All Understanding - By James Farnsworth - October 28, 2023
Once, there was a king who offered to give a prize to an artist who could best paint a depiction of peace.
Many artists decided to participate, so they sent the king their masterpieces. Among the various masterpieces, one picture was of a calm lake, closely resembling peacefully towering snow-capped mountains, where a blue sky with fluffy clouds was overhead.
Most of those who viewed the paintings of peace from different artists thought this would be the one. But the king had another winner in mind. To the crowd’s surprise, the picture that won was of a mountain, as well. But it was more plain, and it was more rugged than the other paintings. The sky was shady and looked angry because there was lightning.
It was precisely the opposite of what peace should look like. The others thought the artist may have sent the wrong painting that pictures peace. What others did notice was that if you look closely at the painting, there was a tiny bush growing in the cracks of a rock, and in that bush, there was a nest built by a mother bird. Amid the stormy weather, the bird sits peacefully on her nest.
In that specific portrait, it was depicted that in the presence of all the turmoil, there’s still someone who can be calm in his or her heart. The real meaning of peace for the mother bird in the story, as viewed by the king, is finding calm within despite the noise from the outside world! It is a peace of mind that’s not affected by the state of our surroundings!
Booklets: https://www.cbcg.org/booklets/booklets.html
Messages Index: https://www.cbcg.org/sermon-index.html