• a community raising money to bring refugees into a stable country, teaching them a new language and valuing their friendship;
• someone who forgives after being hurt by the words or actions of another;
• a woman rushing to help another who has fallen;
• a teenager spending time with another who is lonely or friendless;
• people visiting the sick or imprisoned;
• a child being kind to others;
• people filled with joy because God lives among them, regardless of their circumstances;
• nations living in peace;
• a man being patient even when things go wrong or when other people are hard to get along with;
• a woman giving to those in need regardless of the cost;
• a community praising God with words and deeds;
• a man who dies rather than betraying his faith;
• miners breathing fresh air after being trapped in a coal mine;
• farmers standing in the rain after a long drought;
• someone who can see again after being blind.

—Richard Lawton

 

THINK ABOUT IT: God is love, right? So wherever love is, God is. And wherever God is, so is God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is right here, right now, no matter what we do. I believe that with all my heart.

—Alyssa Pauline Rivera, 22