The Kingdom of God

I was reading something from one of the books of the Bible this morning, the book of Luke. Luke was a physician in ancient Roman times, and, after carefully investigating eyewitness accounts, wrote two books in the Bible that tell of many things Jesus (Isa) (PBUH) the Messiah said and did. In chapter (sura) 17, verses 20, 21, He was asked by the legalistic religious leaders of the day "when the kingdom of God" would come. Jesus answered that the kingdom of God won't come with outward signs to be seen. And people won't say, "look 'here' it is! Or, 'there' it is!" Jesus said to look around us - the kingdom of God is right in the middle of us.

I was sitting outside on my back porch as I read this, and probably 30 hummingbirds darted back and forth drinking sugar water at the four feeders I have hung there. They even came over to where I was sitting and buzzed my head, getting right in my face, and looked quizzically at me. I recited this verse in my mind - "the kingdom of God is right in your midst." Right in the middle of the struggles of life, of the heartaches, dysfunction and problems we humans have, God is in the middle! And glimpses of His true kingdom - one of beauty, wonder, and peace - shine through, right in the middle of life. We must slow down and look for it. It's there! Imagine that - think about that! The kingdom of God, right here, right now, brightly visible to our eyes, in this world! We don't have to wait for something to come - it is here now.

What have YOU seen?