1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the
hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in
the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in
secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof.
I woke up this morning thinking “seek ye first the kingdom of God”, and started crying. I don’t know why. My detractors (sundry) will likely term me whiny, or mentally unbalanced, or [does it really matter?]. I try to tell the truth on this blog. God only knows how rare full sincerity is in on this Earth. People are like hardened Earth, having forgotten rain. I certainly don’t tell all, but what I tell is my truth, relatively unfiltered. And it helps that while I don’t exactly hide my name, I don’t put it out there either.
Heaven is on Earth. Heaven is a state of mind. It is an openness to experience, an emotional strength that enables you to persists in the face of grief, heartache and disappointment. None of those things is real, in the end. All of us are granted access to infinite light at the end of our days if we just soldier on as well as we can.
I watched “Cold Mountain” last night for the second time, and after having forgotten some of the plot twists. What I had not forgotten was the old lady in the woods, who even while loving her goat slit its throat because someone needed to eat to live. She did not harden her heart, or engage in useless sentimentality because it pleased her. She did what had to be done because it had to be done.
If you ponder the whole of the plotline, there is a theme of destiny, not less weak than in Forest Gump (which is in many respects as profound a meditation on love as any I’ve seen). As Maddy put it:
See, I think there’s a plan. There’s a design for each and every one of
us. You look at nature. Bird flies somewhere, picks up a seed, shits the
seed out, plant grows. Bird’s got a job, shit’s got a job, seed’s got a
job. And you’ve got a job.
The Kingdom of Heaven is your job, your duty–your dharma, as the Hindus would put it, and as the Buddhists would put it with a slightly different meaning. It is accepting whatever hand you were dealt with grace and even pride. That is all God wants, in my view, all He needs: your destiny.
Work hard and be well. Perhaps that is the whole creed. And when that doesn’t work, repeat.
And with respect to the verses above, is it not obvious that if you are simply erecting a facade, it will blow over in any wind? Build something worth building.
And if you place your trust in work and sincerity and in a desire to be good, this does not mean you will be fed. It does not mean you will be clothed. It means you can ACCEPT this. Is it not better to be poor in sober self respect, than the richest man on Earth who hates himself?
The things that matter cannot be weighed or laid next to a ruler. Death is no end, unless it starts in your heart; and it continues until you remember life.