title peace
Contents
A king decided to give a prize to the artist who painted "Peace" best. Many artists applied, but only two were his favorites. One of them had to be chosen as the winner.
One was a painting of a calm lake. The lake is truly mirror-clear. Beautiful mountain buds peacefully surround the lake, and white feathery clouds gently flow in the blue sky. Everyone who saw it thought that this painting was truly the perfect representation of peace.
The other was a painting of a bare rocky mountain. Lightning strikes the stormy sky and heavy rain pours down. At the foot of the mountain, the waterfall oscillates in a wild spray. There is no peace to be found anywhere. However, as the king was examining the painting, he noticed a small tree growing between the crevices of the rocks behind the waterfall. A mother bird was nesting quietly in that little forest.
The king chose this painting as the winner. And then he explained why. “Peace does not mean a situation that is not noisy, that it is not difficult, that it is pain-free. To not lose one's composure in spite of these circumstances will be called true peace.”
The world we live in is never quiet. Being expelled from the Garden of Eden, we have already lost our peace and are abandoned in a harsh and sinful world. But God, who loves us, sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to build a nest for us to find rest for our souls in this wild and harsh world. Jesus who came in the lowest and lowest form in a manger, Jesus who lived a life of thorough self-sacrifice and sharing, and Jesus who obeyed God's will by dying on the cross, overcoming severe pain and insult. This is how Jesus was born, lived, and died. Jesus Himself taught that humility, sacrifice, sharing, and obedience are the ways we receive the peace God has given us.
Without peace of mind we cannot enjoy true happiness. No great conditions the world gives us can make us truly happy. We see that the more people have, the more unhappy they are. What will be the end of the powers of 無所不爲? We also see the misfortune that many people fall into the swamp of ruin because of more money that the average person doesn't have. On the contrary, we see and hear the lives of really happy people. What kind of people are they? All in all, they are not well-equipped in worldly conditions. They are just people who try to live a life of self-sacrifice and sharing, the joy of giving what they have to this world. These are the mother bird Jesuses who build a small nest of peace in this wild and harsh world. If we look closely, the conditions of the world take away our peace of mind. Money, fame, status, and power fuel our greed, exalt our pride, envy each other, and divide us into conflict. Securing our peace of mind. It makes us anxious and anxious.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those with whom you are pleased.”
Peace is God's blessing to those who please Him. What would a life pleasing to the Lord be? It is a life of humility that humbles the ‘I’ and a life of sharing as ‘we’. It is a life that always obeys the word of God and gives up oneself.
Jesus is the one who lived a life pleasing to the Lord. He is the one who personally taught us how to reach peace. Through the life of the follower of Jesus, I hope you have a merry Christmas when you receive God's true peace in this harsh and turbulent world. *