Early mornings are the best. Those dawn hours when the sun has broken over the horizon but the world is still sleeping; the hours of slow wake-up, sounds of birds breaking the silence of night.
It is early morning and right now it is easy for me to believe that someday this will all be redeemed.
I remind myself of this when I feel particularly burdened by our world. It is the lifeline of my faith, and I believe it in the marrow of my bones.So if one day this will all be redeemed, how am I supposed to live? It would be easy to dismiss this as God's problem, not mine; to decide that I needn't go out of my way to do anything special. But the privilege of partnering with a redeemer in "Thy Kingdom Come" is compelling.
I learn daily more of what it means to participate in kingdom building. I learn that my job is not to ridicule, to withold grace, to tell people to stop having thin skin, to condemn, to gloat, to despair, to withdraw, to be disgusted. My job, my mandate is to build bridges and seek the kingdom. My job is to love God and my neighbor, to seek the welfare of the places I live, to fight for human flourishing.
My job is to walk in the words of the prophet Micah and do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God.There will be a day when the Kingdom of Heaven will come, and on that day I know this - all of this will dissolve into nothing in the light of the Glory of God Himself.
Until then may God heal my eyesight. May he heal our collective eyesight.
Until then, nations will come and go. Party affiliations will change. Politics will swing from right to left and back again. This is not the Kingdom of God. Every system on earth was designed by imperfect people who were all about life on earth and not about treasure in Heaven.
Until then, may he show us his beloved ones of every tribe and every nation. May we not dismiss stories or perspectives. May we be ones who listen and learn, who are willing to admit we are wrong. May we not justify our wrongs or rationalize our sins. May we be people who see beyond the crisis of the day and beyond our own inadequacies. May we comfort the hurting, give grace to the angry, hear the other side, build bridges of peace, and always fight for the persecuted.
May we see the world through the Creator's eyes of love and grace.
Until then...,