Stories of Peace

There was once a mighty kingdom, governed by a mighty King who felt he had been blessed in battle and government to expand the borders of this kingdom farther than had ever been dreamed. One day this King was visited by a vision in which he was instructed to bring God a pot. The King, not wanting to take for granted all the gifts God bestowed upon him, immediately went to the town center and began looking for a pot. 

He walked through the market, stand-by-stand himself, not wanting to leave such an important task to his servants. He called upon all the best and brightest pot makers to show off their wares. He looked over each and every pot that was brought forth, and (you better believe there were a lot of pots, because a purchase from the King is the better advertising than a commercial slot during the Superbowl.) The King however, was rather critical of every item brought before him, not that you can blame him, he was after all buying a pot for God. He dismissed pots because they were too small, too simple, too frumpy, too tall and so on. Until, finally, he found a pot that was just right (not to be confused with any other story).

He purchased this pot for a rather outrageous price, even after it was given a hefty King sized discount, but the money was no object when you are buying a gift for God. The King brought the just right pot to the altar where God had called upon him to smash it.

"Smash it?" the King yelped, but not wanting to question God he did as instructed.

Later God called upon him again to bring another pot to the altar. The King debated this with himself for sometime, "I got him a pot last time and he made me smash it. Obviously he wasn't happy with my purchase." I am assuming that God, being omnipotent and all could hear this whole monologue, but he wasn't offering any further advice. The King continued to himself, which as Shakespeare has shown us is common for Kings, "Maybe the gesture was too superficial. God has given me so much, the least I could do is make my own pot on his behalf."

So the King, not knowing much about anything other than being a King, went down to his local library, checked out all the books he could find on pot making and took a couple classes at his local community college. He had his servants prepare a state of the art pottery workshop and began the process of creating a pot worthy of his maker. His first efforts were pitiful, but he continued with patience, determination and resolve. Eventually he made a pot almost as beautiful as the one he had bought and far more worthy for it had been made with his own hands.

Again the King brought the pot to the altar, and again the King was told to smash it. This time there was some hesitation on his part, being new to this whole art thing he was not used to critics. "You want me to smash this one too?" he asked desperately.

"Yes!" came the command.

The King still deliberated. He had worked hard on the project, granted he was not the most skilled or talented pot maker, but he was proud of his creation. Finally, with much regret he smashed the pot and sure enough a short while later he received instructions to bring another pot to the altar.

This time the King was sure he would do it right. He gave a hefty endowment to both the library and the community college so that they could improve on their existing programs and he found the most talented and skilled of the pot makers and apprenticed himself to him. Now, being a King, he was a tad bit on the ego maniacal side with some serious control issues and so there was a bit of an ego problem to work through first, however, as this was for the greater good he committed himself to the task. He worked diligently, day and night, night and day for months on end - makes you wonder who was running the kingdom, don't it? 

He knew the deed was important so he devoted all of his effort and energy to it. After a year he was able to make a brilliant pot. It was the most magnificent pot that he had ever seen, and at this point he had seen a great many pots and since his ego problem was pretty well in check his opinion was relatively objective.

He rushed to altar reasoning that this undoubtedly was what God had wanted all along. How could it not be? He had humbled himself by becoming an apprentice. He had mastered an art and perfected it to create his greatest work and perhaps it was the greatest work in the whole kingdom. If he had stopped and asked somebody, I'm sure they would have told him, "King that is the greatest pot in the whole kingdom." He was the King after all.

He didn't stop though. He rushed to the altar to present his masterpiece to God. When he set it upon the altar he received the all too familiar instructions, "Smash it."

The King broke down and sobbed, "I have worked so hard to create this. I have worked day and night, night and day for a year. How could you want me to destroy something that I have labored for and loved so deeply?" 

And God replied, "This is what you are doing to me each time you wage war or make a conquest in my name."

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