Chapter November 15

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." - 50 Short Essays on Being Christian

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." The words, whispered across centuries, echo with a particular resonance during this season of twinkling lights and whispered wishes. But what is this kingdom we're meant to seek? Is it a place on a map, a destination we can reach by plane or train? Perhaps it's something far more profound, a realm not of geography but of the heart. A space where love reigns, compassion flourishes, and peace settles like a gentle snowfall on a winter's night. This Christmas, as we ponder the age-old question, "How can I express love and compassion today?" perhaps the answer lies in seeking this inner kingdom first. For when our hearts are aligned with love, our actions naturally follow suit.

In the bustling marketplace of Quito, Ecuador, a young boy named Mateo clutched his lunch – a simple roll filled with beans. His stomach rumbled, but his eyes fell upon an old woman huddled in a doorway, her face etched with hardship. Without hesitation, Mateo broke his roll in half, offering the larger portion to the woman with a shy smile. In that moment, the kingdom bloomed – a tiny seed of compassion planted in the fertile ground of human connection. Across the world, in a quiet hospital room in Osaka, Japan, a nurse named Hana lingered after her shift. Her patient, Mr. Tanaka, an elderly man with no family, looked lost and afraid. Hana pulled up a chair, held his hand, and listened patiently as he spoke of his childhood, his long-lost wife, his fears of the approaching night. The beeping monitors faded into the background as a symphony of empathy filled the room, a wordless melody of shared humanity.

Love and compassion aren't confined to grand gestures or heroic acts. They often reveal themselves in the quiet corners of everyday life, in the spaces between the spoken words. They are the listening ear offered to a grieving friend, the warm embrace given to a heartbroken child, the helping hand extended to a stranger in need. In a small town nestled among the snowy peaks of the Canadian Rockies, a family – Emma, David, and their two children – opened their home to a Syrian refugee family. The languages were different, the customs unfamiliar, but the shared laughter around the dinner table, the clumsy attempts at communication, the warmth of human connection, transcended any cultural barriers. The kingdom was built, brick by brick, with acts of kindness, a sanctuary of shared humanity in a world often fractured by fear and division.

Like a single candle illuminating a darkened room, a small act of kindness can have a ripple effect, spreading outwards in ways we may never fully comprehend. A young woman in Nairobi, Kenya, pays for the coffee of the person behind her in line, inspiring that person to do the same for the next customer, and so on, a chain reaction of generosity unfolding throughout the day. A community in a small town in Italy rallies around a family whose home was destroyed by a fire, offering food, shelter, and support, demonstrating the profound power of collective compassion. A single tweet expressing empathy for a marginalized group sparks a global conversation, raising awareness and inspiring action on a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.

As the Christmas season unfolds, with its carols and twinkling lights, let us remember that the true spirit of this time lies not in the abundance of gifts under the tree, but in the abundance of love in our hearts. The kingdom we seek is not a distant land, but a state of being, a conscious choice to cultivate compassion, to practice kindness, to embrace the interconnectedness of all life. It's a choice we can make every day, in every interaction, in every thought we hold. It's in the quiet pause before we react in anger, in the willingness to listen with an open heart, in the simple act of extending a hand to someone who needs it. The kingdom of God, it turns out, is not something we seek out there, but something we build within ourselves, brick by brick, with every act of love, every gesture of compassion, every moment of grace. And as we build this kingdom within, we illuminate the world around us, one heart at a time.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23