Kingdom Minded

Peter design

My feet are dusty and my shoes are tattered.  My bones ache but I will finish this race.  I can see the finish line and my heart accelerates.  I run harder but not necessarily better.  With each breath my mind becomes focused and my thoughts become clearer.  As I push past the physical I enter into a spiritual place, making the last leg of the race beyond incredible.  I no longer feel the vibration through my bones or the twisting pains in my side.  I no longer hear my heart beating in my ears and the pounding of my feet.  All I see is a beautiful kingdom.  A kingdom prepared for me.

The closer I get and the more I seek to enter into this kingdom, the stronger I feel.  I can almost see the gates, the gates of my new home and I begin to think about the land that I have been traveling from.  My name is Betsy and I am a rebel.  My land is rebellious and they do not understand the ways of this kingdom I flee to.  In my land, we cling to our idea of freedom and scrape by, beaten and torn.  Anyone or anything that stands in our way of independence is rebuked and rejected.  The family is torn because our hearts want gain and control of the material possession that is dangled in front of our faces.  Babies and children are just jewels that adorn our neck, soon to be tarnished and pushed aside because they don’t sparkle as they once did and they hinder the development of the dream.  Mothers swallow the pill that investing in their children and their husbands is not healthy and the medicine soon creates a way for them to have more.  The mother lends out her children to be raised by rebellious ideas that cause it to be fearful and defeated. The race I belong to are greedy and unsatisfied.  They are a medicated hopeful who is blinded by their circumstance, hoping only for gain in the land that they’ve built up. 

As I grow closer to the gates of my new kingdom, my heart aches for my people I leave behind.  I left them with plenty of notice and begged for them to come with me.  I showed them the deceptions of my land but they brushed me off.  I told them of the mysteries that the King of my new home has showed me but they betrayed me with gentle eyes, soft smiles, and apathetic justifications.   They told me that a King would not reveal such things to a simple girl like me.  I saw the same look of ignorance in their eyes as I once had and told them how this King found me as I chased a desire in my heart to have true freedom, not something false that faded away with time. 

Some asked me how to be a part of this kingdom and I told them that it was a simple surrendering to the King and living under His authority.  Being the rebels that my people are, it angered them that they had to submit to the authority of a King.  They believe they are their own kings where I come from.  They refuse to submit to anyone or anything.  I explained that because of our rebellious minds and the rebellious beginnings of our land we are not able to see past the lies.  We are not able to understand life in a kingdom, under a King.  We rebel against even own selves and don’t see it because we want what we want, our bodies decaying by our desires.  

I wanted to share with them all the King shares with me but they refuse to listen.  I wanted to tell them how the King shares all He has with his people.  That it was prepared by the King himself for any who want it.  I wanted to explain to them how kingdom living meets desires and needs unlike we could imagine but it angered them when they thought I was trying to take away the pleasures that their green god gives them.

In my land, people tack their accomplishments on a wall and boast about the work of their hands.  The more their land honors them the more they become sucked in. They are puffed up with pride at the work of their own hands.  They clung to their people and clung to their possessions as I talked about my new home.  The people in my land are fearful and mistrusting.

The more I practice the principles taught to me by my King, I can feel my mind being transformed. It is being prepared for Kingdom living.   I no longer fit into my land, the only land I had known.  Now, with my new mind I am able to love more than I had ever before, but I have no real place that I feel is home.  This land is no longer my home.  I am no longer impressed by what my land offers me.  My desires have changed and my King provides for me now.  I did nothing to deserve all He gives and shows me, but I submit to Him and His teaching. 

I can see the beautiful gates ahead. My shoes are hindering me, slowing me down.  I slip them off and leave them on the path.  My toes gripped the gravel and the rocks, launching me forward. The wind pushing me from behind, aiding me like it does a sail on a boat.  I can hear my Kings voice cheering for me, calling me home.  He is so excited to share with me all that He has.  I can see the gates and look forward to leaving behind this lonely path.