Signs of The Kingdom

Tonight at church we were talking about the Kingdom of God.  The phrase 'Kingdom of God' is very significant for me, which means that I have some rather central philosophical, intellectual and practical commitments in my life that are tied into my understanding of what the Kingdom of God is.  I'm not going to try to elaborate on those right now.  I wanted to write down my thoughts about what it looks like for me as a Christian to participate in God's Kingdom as it comes; particularly one of the first steps of that participation, which I think would be observing the places that God is at work in my world so that I can step into those places.
I asked myself, "Where is God at work in my neighborhood?"  I started listing 'spiritual' signs of God's presence:

• peace
• freedom from bondage
• emotional experiences
• a feeling of being loved
• fruit of the Spirit
• people getting offended
• a reversal of priorities
• wounds being healed

These are definitely signs that God is present.  They are all good things.  But I kept noticing that the places where God's Kingdom is needed most, the places where I know God wants to bring change the most (because He is a Father and a Father's heart is for those who have nothing to offer, who are helpless, lost, confused, and broken beyond repair) are places where most of the above listed phenomena are unknown or, in fact, alien.  People who have been reduced to complete and utter poverty of every kind often have no ability to even conceptualize what peace would feel like.  What it means to be loved.  Not only what a healed wound would feel like, but simply what wounds they have accepted as reality because they have been living with them for many years.
So what are the signs that God's Kingdom is at work among those people in my neighborhood?  I think it might be simply their acknowledgment of need.  In order to be successful in Alcoholics Anonymous or any other 12-step program, you must recognize that you have a problem and that you do not have the power to solve it on your own.  It's difficult to help someone who denies their need for help.  It might even be impossible.  Unfortunately, that same denial is a hallmark of American culture.  We have mastered the art of self-sufficiency and in the absence of its reality we have learned to fake it almost perfectly.  We even lie to ourselves about our self-sufficiency.
For God to be free to help me, he must first break through my denial of need.  My next door neighbor might have a deep need for deliverance from addiction to cocaine--and healing from the emotional wounds that led to her addiction in the first place--but if she is perpetually able to see her lifestyle as glamorous, sustainable and good, she will never recognize her dependence or her attempts to hide from her pain.  God has to break through her denial, ostensibly by breaking her: reducing her to a messy and undeniably helpless individual.  Once she admits her brokenness, I know for sure that God is at work.  Once she admits she is hungry for something other than cocaine, I know God is at work.  Once she admits that she is tired of denial and the appearance of self-sufficiency, I know without a doubt that God is working in her life.  And this may be long before any semblance of peace, spiritual fruit, healing or reversal of priorities appears in her life.

Her acknowledgment of need is the first sign of The Kingdom coming in her life.