There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists _____1_____. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he ____2_____
liked and he had to choose between them.
One picture was of a ___3___ lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering ___4____ were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a _____5_____ picture of peace.
The other picture had mountains too. But there were rugged and ____6____. Above was an ____7____ sky from which rain fell, in which lightening ____8____. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look ____9____at all.
But when the King looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny ____10____growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her ____11____. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, ____12____ the mother bird on her nest…perfect peace.
Which picture do you think won the prize?
The King ____13____ 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, ___14___, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your ____15___. That is the real meaning of peace.”