God Knows

God Knows

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife

Of things both high and low,

God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God. Our fears

Are premature; In Him,

All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of Life’s stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise

God’s thought around His creatures

Our mind shall fill.

by Minnie Louise Haskins

.

Entering the Kingdom of God

When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he was not prophesying about some easy, danger-free perfection that will someday appear. He was talking about a state of being, a way living at ease among the joys and sorrows of our world. It is possible, he said, to be as simple and beautiful as the birds of the sky or the lilies of the field, who are always within the eternal Now. This state of being is not something alien or mystical. We don't need to earn it. It is already ours. Most of us lose it as we grow up and become self-conscious, but it doesn't hard in order to find it. The rich especially have a hard time reentering this state of being; they are so possessed by their possessions, so entrenched in their social power, that it is almost impossible for them to let go. Not that it is easy for any of us. But if we need reminding, we can always sit at the feet of our young children. They, because they haven't yet developed a firm sense of past and future, accept the infinite abundance of the present with all their hearts, in complete trust. Entering the kingdom of God means feeling—as if we were floating in the womb of the universe—that we are being taken care of, always, at every moment.

Gospel According to Jesus by Stephen Mitchell

more quotations may be found here on Kairos Spiritual Formation Quotes 

.

Between Athens and Jerusalem

One.Life and Kingdom of God

Kingdom [of God] is an interconnected society;
Kingdom is a society noted by caring for others;
Kingdom is a society shaped by justice;
Kingdom is a society empowered by love;
Kingdom is a society dwelling in peace;
Kingdom is a society flowing with wisdom;
Kingdom is a society that knows its history;
Kingdom is a society living out its memory;
Kingdom is a society that values society;
Kingdom is a society that cares about its future.

McKnight, (2010), One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, p.34