I asked the trees "What is peace?" and the trees replied:
                        "As I stand with my roots clinging to the earth, Peace is bending
            to the wind, whether it be a howling gale or the whisper of God
                        carried by gentle zephyrs through the leaves."

I asked the waters "What is peace?" and the waters replied:
                        "Peace is yielding to the tides to crash upon the rocky cliffs
            or to softly wash the quiet shore. It is singing as I flow over, around, and
                        through the rocks and rills, from beginnings to end and back again."

I asked the flowers "What is peace?" and the flowers replied:
                        "Peace is awakening to light of the sun to fill the the meadow with beauty
            and joy. Then to swell  with pride before spreading my seeds that I will
                        cover against the chill of winter while they await the new sun."

I asked the man "What is peace?" and he replied:
                        "Peace is to pursue with courage the experience of God -- the ecstasy
            of the eternal now and to walk the path upon which shines the light of God within.
                        Yea, walk that path with those I love -- family, friends and all mankind."

I asked the woman "What is peace?" and the woman replied:
                        "I am the vessel to carry out God's creative design. To conceive, carry
            and bear our children. To suckle them and there begin to nurture them in love.
                        Love -- that spreads over the path I trod with family, friends and all mankind."

Is this then peace? The wind to carry the messages of God? The waters to cleanse
                        our souls? The light to show us the paths to travel? Knowledge to
            understand what God requires of us? And, love, the glue that binds us together
                        in joy and harmony, which after all, is the fabric of God's creation.

 
                                                                                           Paul Kester
                                                                                           May 28, 2001