Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom. Luke 12:32
“God is using these difficulties to give us the Kingdom and the coming of the Kingdom is conditioned only by our consent and acceptance of the situation. One may try to change the situation, but always with detachment from the results.
The Kingdom is most powerful where we least expect to find it. God does not take away our problems and trials but rather joins us in them. Such is the profound meaning of the incarnation: God becoming a human being.
The Kingdom will manifest itself, not because of our efforts to keep trying, even when all effort seems hopeless, but because God loves us so much that God won’t be able to stand seeing us struggle and always failing. God will do the impossible.”
Thomas Keating in St. Therese of Lisieux: A Transformation in Christ (New York: Lantern, 2001) 45.
God, thank you that you don’t take away our problems but you join us in them. Thanks for good times and hard ones. Bring the Kingdom in every corner of our lives. Do this so we can show others that hope is found in You. Amen.
As we think about generosity, perhaps the lesson today for us is to accept our situations with thankful hearts and to ask God to make the Kingdom manifest itself where we least expect to find it so that hope abounds for us and others.