• Pythagorean theorem: 24 words
• The Lord’s Prayer: 66 words
• Archimedes’ Principle: 67 words
• The 10 Commandments: 179 words
• The Gettysburg Address: 286 words
• The Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words
• The US Government regulations on the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words

Before her death, Judy Lawson became a spiritual Mother of scores of hardened criminals. “On her last Mother’s Day,” according to Bill Myers, “she received 40 Mother’s Day cards from men whose life she touched.” Her prison ministry began eighteen months after her son was brutally murdered.

She knew it was God’s will for her to forgive the murderer, and she had spoken the words, but she continued to harbor ill will toward the man who robbed her of her son. She had agreed to never say “no” to God, so when she heard Him saying, “I want you to love the man who killed your son” she had no choice but to fight the natural rage boiling up and to practice Christian love and forgiveness.

While visiting a prison to support a friend at a parole hearing, she came face-to-face with the murderer. She fought God, but soon, in faith gave in to His leading to speak to the man. “Richard,” she said, “my name is Judy Lawson-you murdered my son and I want you to know that I love you and I forgive you.”

The man began sobbing and the prison guards removed her from the facility. She sent the murderer letters. He sent them back. She continued to write. Her family said stop. Her pastor said stop. But her God said continue. Soon, God’s grace broke through and the vicious killer and the victim reconciled and began a ministry together proclaiming grace and forgiveness to inmates.

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King
looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which
lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King
looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In 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… perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The King chose the second picture. Do you know why? “Because,” explained the King, “peace does not mean to be in a place where
there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is
the real meaning of peace.”