What is Peace?

My wife loves to tell the story of a wealthy businessman who once commissioned two artists to paint something which best depicted peace.

The first artist painted a beautiful landscape of the countryside on a warm spring day. A cloudless sky, a picturesque farm house, soft sunlight on rolling hills...A farmer walked behind strong plow horses making his field ready for planting, while the cattle grazed peacefully. Everyone who looked upon the painting agreed: it was a great depiction of peace.

The second artist painted a majestic, rugged cliff. Gnarled trees, twisted by years of violent winds, jutted from the craggy mountainside. Dark and threatening clouds hung low and fierce, while jagged streaks of lightning slashed across the angry sky. The painting was a picture of violence, chaos, and rage.

The businessman was confused. "This is peace?" he thought.

But as he continued to look at this unsettling painting, he noticed something. There, in one of the crevices of the rocky mountain, tucked back just out of reach of the wind and rain-- was a nest with two tiny birds. Undisturbed by the raging storm, the little birds looked peaceful and calm as they waited for the turbulence to pass.

The world defines peace as "absence of conflict." But that's not how the Bible describes peace. Jesus promised we would know tribulation in this life--Christians are not given a "Get Out of Difficulty Free" card. But he also promised us his peace:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."--John 14:27

The peace of Christ is not the peace of the world, it's not the absence of conflict. It's the peace of knowing that as hard as the winds blow, as loud as the thunder is, as turbulent as the storm may be...he gives us a "nesting place" in the midst of it all.