Jesus calls us out as spring does. This spring has been magnificent here in North Carolina. Shimmering light in the morning, greened up terrain like Augusta... the clematis, Sweet William, peonies, shrub roses, cherry trees and dogwoods all require a response of celebration, anticipation and invocation. Shall we get out into it; shall we stand in awe, in utter amazement at the quality of light and air, color and arrangement: absorbing it, receiving it, blessing it and tending it? Yes.
Jesus calls us out. "Come unto me." "Follow me." "Let your light so shine..." "Love one another." We are invited, you might even say instructed, to "walk in the light as He is in the light" and "make My joy complete in you." All of this and so much more for the Kingdom of God to be revealed in our midst, through us and in our response to the call, just as spring bursts forth in the promise of all of Creation being redeemed and restored in the brilliance of original intent. And where are we on the spectrum? Can the incandescent light of the Spirit be seen in you and in me as we grow in our place like the whitest, startling white of the peonies?
Or, sadly, is His joy being robbed and displaced? Is it egoistic to let your light shine or do we hide it under a bushel of false humility? It may be egoistic to "think" of it or to try to measure it; but it is decidedly not egoistic to "be" that light, that joy, that manifest kingdom within that is His light, His joy, His Kingdom. And this is particularly true, and a calling, in the midst of death and darkness, deceit and betrayal, atrocity and fear. He calls us out to live in this stellar amazement, the startling, irrepressible expression of life lived in abandon to God.
In her remarkable book, The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris adapted an observation of Teilard d. Chardin to describe her descent into malaise:
"I 'had allowed the resistance of the world to good' (to shake) my faith in the Kingdom of God."
She continues to explain that "a secular world view, terribly sophisticated but of little use to me in the long run, had taken hold of me in my early twenties and in Teilard's words I had begun 'to regard the world as radically and incurably corrupt.' Consequently, (I had) allowed the fire to die down in my own heart." Twenty years later, she awakes and is transformed in the realization that "the end of our control" is "the beginning of God's reign." Is this not the spirit of Jesus' exhortation to "let the little children come unto me, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven?"
Just as spring declares itself in the now, so does the kingdom declare itself in the now. We are called to be his witness, that is the living witness of his own reality, the living expression of the life of Christ bursting forth. The Kingdom of Heaven is not waiting to happen; it is happening. Extend that hand now, lay those hands on now, smile now with confident hope in the boundless goodness of God. If the fire has died down in your own heart, reset the path that relights the blaze...now. It can be the simplest thing in an ordinary day, the simplest act that releases control and testifies that God reigns.
I have seen this occur in the face of death in most remarkable ways but I have also seen it occur in what seems most ordinary but becomes extraordinary, in both cases teaching us the sight, sounds and signs of the Kingdom. In the ordinary, it happened this way: I came home from work one afternoon. It was at the end of three days of intensive prayer, the times I spend with a person praying through that one life. Kason and Aliyah, our 5 and 4 year old grandchildren, were sitting at the top of the driveway in the midst of bikes, a plastic swimming pool, chalk drawings on the driveway - all remnants of the play that Laurie had led. We have had these two with us for the better part of their years so far and Laurie has been a constant presence and angel to them. Kason was sitting in the chair, a bit tuckered but also seeming a bit bored.
My plan was that I was going to hit golf balls and my motivation was that I deserved it and that my game needed the undistracted attention in order to be competitive. Particularly at my age. But, there was that little fella who has so captured our hearts. No Dad. In an instant, and to my surprise, I found myself saying: "Kason, would you like to hit some balls with me?" My gosh, on went the light in his eyes. It was as if he could not believe I had asked. "Yes, Papa, Yes." Up he got and he disappeared into the house. He emerged with clothes changed, a short sleeved, checkered and button up shirt, blue matching shorts, shoes and socks. He wasn't finished. He said he needed a hat and grabbed a visor off the hook. He was assured a visor was a legitimate golf hat. Michelson wears one. That sufficed and on it goes. He looked so golf ready and chic that Laurie and I just stared. When had he taken in how a golfer dresses and one upped Ian Poulter? Was he ready? Yes.
Off we went, God's reign in full bloom. It was the best time I ever had at the range or riding out to the range. I got a large bag and gave him a good portion of balls. I gave him some tees. He loves tees. I would look over at this little guy carefully adjusting the ball on the tee, the club swinging back once, then twice, then pow. "Look, Papa, that is my ball still rolling all the way out there." The grass, the sky, the range had never looked more alive. I promise you, it was like standing in the midst of technicolor. I not only saw delight but delight came into me. Joy came in, and I got a few swings in too.
The world is resistant to good and we are confronted with that resistance in graphic terms worldwide. Jesus, knowing more about that resistance than anyone else could, that resistance would kill him, said this: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become as one of these (little ones) you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." There is, my friends, the Kingdom in our midst, truly, and in every follower of Jesus. We embrace the boundless goodness of God. "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth (and in earth, you and me) just as it is in Heaven." Bring it here, bring it right here in the now. That is prayer. Spring has sprung: the living signs of the Kingdom.
How poised are we to embrace the Kingdom this day?
Blessings,
Trip and Laurie
The Verbena Foundation