A nightingale sang ... to draw signs of the kingdom to a close?

Tonight a nightingale sang for about 20 minutes in our small town garden while we sat and drank our Friday evening fizz and ate Dr B's homemade pizza. It was a beautiful sound and one I'd not heard since we left the manse six years ago - it made me realise we are surrounded by more trees here than I thought.
Next week I won't blog any more on signs of the kingdom anymore - the remit was to do it for a month. The other bloggers in Opawa have all ended their kingdom blogging now and I shall draw to a close over the weekend with some reflection about what it has meant for me to focus my thoughts in this way. Meanwhile Georgina is just getting stuck in to her kingdom signs and I hope others will give it a try too.
Today my kingdom sign is not the beautiful birdsong or the heart-warming tale of teaching young people music in Soweto's townships I watched on the tv - though both lifted my spirits and spoke to me of God's beauty and commitment.
I have been wondering today if the flutter of the kingdom that has been offered to me over recent days has not been something to be found in perseverance and toughness when faced with depression and despair. Is steeliness also a sign of the kingdom? I suppose today I sense deeply that the kingdom is not about niceness but it is about God calling us, calling me, to go beyond ourselves. Perhaps that's also the message of the nightingale's song, a much bigger music than the tiny insignificant little bird itself. A call to be courageous.