The Kingdom of God

God says
that I should love
those who hurt me.

For through them,
the Kingdom of God
is revealed.

How do I manifest
the glory of the Kingdom?
While I am in the world,
the Kingdom is within me.

Am I wise enough to see
its reality?

Am I strong enough to keep
its integrity?

My cup runs over,
I am full of emotions.
Each pulling me
in different directions.

But what do I reveal
if I retaliate?
What do I reveal
if I forgive?

Free will is mine.
But evil, like termites,
makes the Kingdom
collapse.

Little by little,
unnoticeable on the outside.
But quietly creating
a vacuum inside.

Emptiness is...
The denial of love.
The coldness of alienation;
The final result of pride's
fleeting satisfaction.

What good is
an empty Kingdom?
Devoid of life,
its light extinguished?

The children of God
are recognized by
the way that they
love one another.

My only choice, then,
as a child of God,
is to love.

It's easy to love
the lovable.

But loving the unlovable,
is easier said than done.

It's Cruel.
Unthinkable.
Yet...
necessary.

For my own good,
for the common good.
And above all
in honor of
The Kingdom of God.

Jan Bagwell

God Bless ! 

What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.”