It is not so important that Christ will come in glory at the end of the world as it is that He comes today in our midst. Therein is the challenge: to recognize the presence of the Lord.

But when have you experienced that presence of the Lord? In the joy of the baby you hold after that miracle of new life? In the warm embrace of a good friend? In the peacefulness of the quiet early morn? In the crashing of the ocean waves on the seashore? When have you known that the kingdom, the presence of God is with you?

Surprisingly we might add to such a list God’s presence is also to be tasted in the depths of pain or in long nights of worry or fear that call forth hope. It is there to be found in the aftermath of suffering that can give us the enormous gift of compassion. Perhaps you’ve found it in the understanding of another person’s pain that can only come from having walked the same hard path or even in the freedom from being judgmental that is the gift of having been falsely judged.

If we truly believe that the reign of God is already in our midst, we know that the story of our own life with its everyday joys and sorrows is the story of God’s presence. And that is God’s kingdom here for us to see when we stop and look. Then will Christ’s coming at the end be glorious for us!

Jean Marie Hiesberger