August 16, 2005
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A Portrait of Peace
Many years ago, an Emperor of China spent much of his life in the pursuit of personal peace. He studied the philosophers, and listened to many wise teachers. He decided that to enhance the environment in his private chambers, he needed a painting of peace.
He sent out a call for a competition among all the artists in the land to produce such a painting, to be judged by his wisest teachers, and, if a suitable representation was found, to be rewarded handsomely. many beautiful works were submitted and judged, Many were rejected.
Finally the judges told the emperor that they felt they had a worthy candidate, and invited him to see for himself.
The emperor entered the hall with hundreds of submissions, and as he strode past the rejected candidates toward the proposed “winner”, something caught his eye.
To one side of the great hall, among many serene, pastoral scenes of beauty and rest. hung something odd.
It was a painting of great skill like the others, but very different; instead of sunny fields,or calm children’s faces, or placid pools, this painting portrayed a turbulent waterfall, the cataracts of which tumbled in toruous fashion over high, jagged cliffs.
There was a dark, wind-blown scene at the top of the cliffs, and the sky was ominous, full of black clouds. Lightning was striking nearby, and the trees in the scene were ripped by winds.
“What is the meaning of this?” asked the emperor.”did the artist not understand the task?”
No one had an answer.
“Bring me this artist,” said the emperor , “that I may question him.”
The artist was sought and led forth.
“Tell me;” said the ruler,”the meaning of this work.Did you not understand that I wished a painting of perfect peace?”
“Yes, your highness,” responded the elderly painter. “I fully understood your royal request.Perhaps if your majesty were to look a little closer at the waterfall, my message would be clearer.”
The emperor did so. At first he saw nothing. Suddenly a small detail caught his eye. In the midst of the waterfall, about halfway up, was a very small tree; a branch, really, which had somehow found purchase on a small crop of rock in the center of the tumult. In that wind-blown branch was a nest, and sitting in the nest,apparently singing freely, was a nightingale.
“Perfect peace, your highness, said the man,” does not require a sunny day”
The painting was hung in the emperor’s chambers, and the artist was rewarded not only with silver, but with a place among the emperor’s wisest sages.
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Jesus has said: ” Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)
God’s peace in all your “troubled waters”…Jim
Note: Aug.18…Apologies for the lack of capitalization some of you may have noticed…The system I typed this up on had a neat “all caps” font, which I discovered does not show up for everyone…I’ve edited the text appropriately….Jim
Comments (23)
Hey Jim! This is great. Thanks!
Recently, I heard or read somewhere about the robin also singing its most beautiful and highest and loudest melody at the peak of the storm. I can’t remember where I heard or read that. Anyway, I guess the birds have got it figured out. Even the sparrows know His eye is on them.
Peace indeed 2u
Thanks; the story is one I heard years ago…this is just my rendering. Thanks for the reference to “His eye is on the sparrow..” . The song is running through my head now. God Bless…Jim
Bu yong xie! (No need to thank me.)
I’ve heard that story before, but it’s always nice to hear it again. The best of stories are meant to be told over and over again. Thank you for sharing.
This story brought a sigh from my heart and soul. It is lovely, thank you. It represents the truth to me, that we are not limited to human responses in time of trouble, but indeed, we are finite creatures with access to infinite reality.
I second all the above. Of all the stories I love, I especially like fairy tales and stories from exotic lands in years gone by, particularly when they have a moral to them as does this one. Isn’t there another story that recounts the tale of a nightingale? Perhaps it is even called “The Nightingale”? Or is this it? Okay, I just found it in an Internet search and I should have known! It is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, it is indeed called “The Nightengale,” and it can be read (among other places) at Classic Children’s Stories or at the expansive Hans Christian Andersen website (the latter of which features over a hundred of HCA’s stories.
Would have bet on you coming up with that other story about the nightingale…I hadn’t heard it in a very long time, and really enjoyed reading it. Thanks!
Do you suppose that the little nightingale is in reality the Christ-child in winged disguise?
Love this story! Thanks for your comment over on my blog : )
fishtree ~ …or perhaps the nightingale has learned to hold the peace of God is his heart.
Thanks you guys. This is good. I never heard either stories before.
I have read The Nightengale now, for the first time ever, (poor deprived baby
. It is a beautiful story, and I think Fishtree has a good insight into it.
Agree on Fishtree’s insight…however, ryc on your site:….you have an excellent sense of meter, and your word imagery is wonderful! I was re-reading some of your previous poetry, and was reminded how impressed I was with the sonnet form you devised/used in the “Mary had a little lamb” take-off you did. You innately know all that is needed…you have a poet’s heart. It’s great that you are at a point in life enough removed from “great pain” to really enjoy the poetry. (And how much the remembrance of pains past adds to the depth of the well we draw from when we write now!)…Jim
You’re very kind and thoughtful. Thanks.
Hi Jim! RYC: I’m always His, no sweat, and thanks for your prayers. Some local friends have told me that everything that I write or is written to me online is potentially monitored. That’s why I needed to back off for a minute. I just needed to refocus. I need to make sure I don’t write anything that would “incriminate” myself. And I had to delete one of your comments, too, just because there are certain “hot” words that I don’t need to be associated with. It’s not like Mexico. I hope you understand.
Anyway, I have enjoyed coming back to this page again and again to read the comments and yet another story! I don’t remember hearing either one before.
I have a question…how do I put music on my blog page like you did? I would really like to do this but am having a hard time finding the right information about how to do it. Can you help?
Thanks.
His Peaceu2 –
That is an exellent story. And an excellent quote from the Matrix.
alittle2blue: I can e-mail you the html code for the “player” which you can paste onto your site.Let me know if that won’t work out and I’ll post it here ….which reminds me…I wanted to thank you for the BibleGateway search link which you can now find at the bottom of my page.I’m so glad things are okay for you. Thank God!
luckyfreecoin: Thank you..thought you might like that.
Breath_of_Dawn: All sincere …by the way..I just found out why those little subscript lines are between the words in your name…I stumbled onto the other ” Breath of dawn” site! VERY different from yours!
God’s Peace…Jim
RYC: yes, I wanted to do it the other way, but that of course was taken. From what I see, there are no posts or comments. But of course the theme is diametrically opposite of mine.
“Diametrically opposite” is the exact phrase that came to mind when I thought of the two sites.
I think Breath_of_dawn is a great name. So I guess Breathofdawn is too. Rather peotic. (what, it is!) Oh well.
Actually I was sitting by the lake one day pondering what name I should assume for my blog, casting several about, and a widdle fishie happened by and told me how I could still have the name that had been taken. So, said widdle fishie was helpful to me in that, too.
chuckle, chuckle
Smirk, chortle, snigger. Funny.