Hearth & Altar

Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. The instruction is ordering, not abstraction: first the kingdom, then the things. The worry about food and clothing and tomorrow is the worry of the person whose ordering is reversed - whose attention to the things has crowded out the kingdom.

Zechariah's dying words are one of Scripture's most honest cries: may the Lord see and avenge. He does not pretend the injustice is not real. He names it and hands it to God. And the Chronicles narrator confirms: Joash was executed by his servants as blood vengeance for Zechariah. The Lord saw.

Consider the lilies of the field. They do not toil or spin, and Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them. The worry about clothing is the worry of the person who does not trust the Father's attention to the whole creation. If God clothes the grass - temporary, trampled, burned - how much more will he clothe you?

The household that seeks first the kingdom is the household that has done the ordering work. The practical worries remain - they don't disappear - but they occupy their rightful place after the thing that matters most.

• For our family, that the kingdom would be first - that the ordering would be right before the worrying gets to the practical things, we pray to the Lord.
• For those who cannot stop worrying, that the lilies and the birds would be actual evidence for them rather than pleasant metaphors, we pray to the Lord.
• For those who have spoken God's word truthfully to people who did not want to hear it, in the tradition of Zechariah, that may the Lord see and avenge would be their comfort, we pray to the Lord.
• In this Sacred Heart month, for the heart that seeks first the Father's kingdom and trusts him with the rest, we pray to the Lord.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Name the one thing in your life right now that is crowding out the kingdom - the practical worry that has taken first place. Put the kingdom back first today. One deliberate act that puts the kingdom before the thing.

Do not worry about tomorrow; each day has enough trouble of its own. The gift of the single day is the family's best unit of living. This week, help your children name the worry they are carrying about tomorrow and lay it down. Today's trouble is sufficient. The Father feeds the birds and clothes the grass. He sees your children.