My Wish For 2010

"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 of the pictures. After much deliberation he was down to the last two. He had to choose between them.
One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful mountains that towered around it. Overhead, fluffy white clouds floated in a blue sky. Everyone who saw this picture said that it was the perfect picture of peace.
The second picture had mountains too. These mountains were rugged and bare. Above was an angry gray sky from which rain fell. Lightening flashed. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not appear to be a peaceful place at all. But, when the king looked closely, he saw that behind the waterfall was a tiny bush growing in the rock. Inside the bush, a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest. She was the perfect picture of peace.
The king chose the second picture. "Because," he explained, "peace is not only in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace is in the midst of things as they are, when there is calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."

"Portrait of Peace" by Linda Spitzer

This story was emailed to me several years ago. At that time I just saw it as a nice little idea to keep in mind, but as the last couple years have unfolded I've found this story to have more and more meaning to me. Peace can be extremely elusive. The way life is structured today, peace does not readily come to us. It must be found and tightly held onto. Very few times will our lives look like the first portrait, where peace surrounds us and there are no worries - no constant stream of emails, phone calls, health problems, bills, deadlines, fears, frustrations, etc. Our lives will almost always look like the second portrait. With the storms of life always encircling us, it is up to us to find peace within ourselves in the midst of any situation. The thing that has become increasingly clearer to me is that it is our choice as to whether we allow ourselves to get caught up in the storms or to find peace within them. If we wait for peace to just happen, it will never be found. The problems of this world cause worry and unrest. It's a vicious cycle that keeps repeating itself, continually breaking us down unless we choose to step out of the cycle, examine our thoughts and feelings, and choose peace over anxiety.