Monday, May 26

Where there is no vision, the people perish...
—Psalm 29:18

When Jesus talked of the Kingdom of God, he frequently spoke in the present tense. The Kingdom wasn’t just something to look forward to; it was already among us. Not everyone could see this, however. The same is true today. It is easy to point out what is wrong with the world: Wars are being waged around the globe. A great many people lack such basics as food, adequate shelter, and health care. The earth itself is suffering degradation at our hands. What is much more difficult to do is to imagine the alternative.

In a program for WCBS Newsradio 88/New York more than 30 years ago, commentator Charles Osgood noted the power that language has in shaping our behavior. As he put it, “The word is the father of the act.” He might have said that the vision is as well; what we see is what we get. Who among us can imagine a just society? Who can envision peace? Who can believe that the human heart is capable of love?

Is it naive to work for such things? Jesus didn’t think it was. Rather, he encouraged his disciples to look at the world with new eyes. The Kingdom, he said, is already here. The good we seek must be called out and given flesh. To be a dreamer in this sense is not to engage in fantasy, but to honor the spiritual gift of vision.

O God, give me eyes to see your Kingdom and the will to both call it forth and name it.

The Signposts for May are written by Susan Hanson and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in September 2004.