This week I picked my youngest kids up from overnight summer camp, dropped my oldest off at high school orientation, and squeezed in a hike with all three of them at a favorite trail in Marin County – this one leads to the ocean, and I appreciated a few minutes at the beach to think and soak in the fresh air.
I read this reflection the other day and appreciated its perspective on that which is most important. The descriptive words stand out to me. Enjoy! Blessings on your week ahead.
In contrast to every other kingdom that have been and ever will be, [the Kingdom of God] belongs to the poor. Jesus said, and to the peacemakers, the merciful, and those how hunger and thirst for God. In this kingdom, the people from the margins and at the bottom rungs will be lifted up to places of honor, seated at the best spots at the table. This kingdom knows no geographical boundaries, no political parties, no single language or culture. It advances not through power and might, but through acts of love and joy and peace, missions of mercy and kindness and humility. The kingdom has arrived, not with a trumpet’s sound but with a baby’s cries, not with the vanquishing of enemies but with the forgiving of them, not on the back of a warhorse but on the back of a donkey, not with triumph and a conquest but with a death and a resurrection.
And yet there is more to this kingdom that is still to come, Jesus said, and so we await a day when….justice will roll down like a river…when [all people] will live together in peace.
-Rachel Held Evans Searching for Sunday
Keeping the Faith 