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The lightening bugs appeared last night. I'm sure they started showing up several nights ago, but I was too busy or too preoccupied to notice. They appear this time of year whether they're noticed nor not. Almost as if on cue the fireflies come forth. More and more will be filling yards and meadows and it will soon be so obvious we all will notice. Perhaps that is the way God's kingdom will come upon the earth. First a little light will appear here and there in the night. Then more blinks will appear followed by another and another. Some say that when Christ comes again the Kingdom will come crashing into the world the way a Fourth of July parade begins. But I think the Kingdom of God will come like fireflies in summer. We won't notice at first, then light and love will appear where there was none before. And soon, as if there were a conspiracy of angels, more and more flashes of light will appear in surprising places. It will come without fanfare. While we are too busy or too preoccupied, the Kingdom of God will come slipping in with a flash of grace, an opening of joy, a sudden beam of hope, a blink of possibility, a sudden shower of undeserved love. It will be an appearance that no one will predict and no one can explain. We will be unable to capture it or bottle it up. It will simply happen like fireflies appearing at dusk. By grace some will notice and stop what they are doing and be drawn out of their houses. In fact, on silent nights I sometimes wonder if the kingdom has not already come into our midst just as Jesus said it would, and we are simply too busy or preoccupied to notice. Wouldn't it be amazing to wake up and discover Christ has come again, or perhaps find out that Christ never left us after all? There is such delight in watching fireflies on a summer night. No one can predict where the next glimmer of light will appear. --H.S. |