Once upon a time, there was
a beautiful and vast Kingdom ruled by a wise and omniscient King. The King
smiled upon the land, and it was rich and fertile, the air and water fresh and
abundant, the diverse animals fat and happy, and the people cognizant and appreciative
of their many blessings. Resources were respected and preserved. Ideas flowed
freely between the adults, without guile or judgment. Children were recognized
as the Kingdom’s future, and were encouraged and supported, allowed to reach
for their dreams and develop their own beliefs. For thousands upon thousands of
years, the Kingdom continued to flourish under the rule of the One Wise King.
At their conception, the
people were given a gift from the King ~ the will to choose. He wanted them to
choose Him, to choose right, to choose love. But he knew that they would not.
True to His vision, the people became clouded, selfish, greedy. They lived each
day certain there would be another. They used more resources than they
replaced, calling them possessions. They dirtied the air and polluted the water
in an attempt to make life more convenient. They killed the animals simply for
entertainment, sending a multitude of species to extinction. And they turned
against one another. The people of the Kingdom began to judge one person’s
worth over another, one person’s decisions over another, one person’s belief
over another. They spoke angrily, acted viciously. Neighbors turned on
neighbors. Family turned on family. Children were viewed with lesser importance
and treated cruelly, without love, their value underestimated, unremembered.
The people used their will to destroy what once was precious ~ Life in the
Kingdom.
The King was sad. He gave
His people everything they could ever need, but their desires continued to
grow. His Grace wasn’t enough for them. The King tried to stay in the
hearts of his people, and guide them with his Word. But they didn’t listen.
They made up their own rules and called them His. They wrote their own
prophecies and called them His. They divided and conquered one another. They
turned on Him.
The King was not an
unforgiving King, and he waited and waited for the people to change their ways,
to return to His love. But their hatred grew, and he promised vengeance against
those who lived in sin and did not repent.
One day, in the Kingdom’s
future chapters which are yet to be written, the King will seek that vengeance,
and the evil ones will fall. What will happen to the Kingdom and its
inhabitants after that day is unknown. The only way for the people to ensure
they will survive His wrath and live with their beloved King once more, is to
turn from evil, and turn to Him.
And so we wait . . .