There was once an old man who lived like a king but was insecure and fearful all the time. To find peace, he decided to purchase a painting that would represent peace and tranquility. He offered a huge amount of money to famous painters to prepare something very special on their canvas that would depict the peace he needed to feel. One by one, the painters chose their ideas of peace and painted it on canvas and at last the exhibition day arrived.

The wealthy man entered the gallery and took his time viewing each painting and meditating on the scenes. Some pictures were scenes of a very rustic peaceful pasture with a quiet pond and clouds hanging in the sky. But he passed by those. Another painting showed a farm with a cute puppy dozing on one side with Misty figs hanging over a distant mountain slope. He didn’t even stop to view that one but passed by quickly.

One boy one he glanced at the scenes. But his eye caught the scene of a turbulent waterfall rushing madly down a cliff. On the side of the cliff was a tiny cove. A closer look revealed a very small robin sitting in the cove on her nest of eggs. The expression of the robin was one of the rest, peace, and serenity in spite of the waterfall. Immediately the rich man knew this was the picture that would bring him peace of mind. As he made his decision, the people around him asked, “why did you choose that one?”

“In the world today there is no peace,” he said,” yet this robin, in her most perilous circumstance found safety in a tiny cove, in spite of the violent waterfall. This picture tells me peace must come from within, not from without.”

There is no place in the world where true peace can be found but there is a true inner peace that can be found.

In any situation or circumstance, it is possible to have peace within even though we find it without. So we must seek peace within.

Bro Andrew Richard.