On shovelling and godliness

I think I've just discovered how the world is changed.
My next door neighbour's had it sorted for quite some time. He is constantly loving his neighbour (me in this case) and I've somehow chalked it up to his embarassment at how I keep my yard.
Jesus has that whole deal about loving your neighbour as yourself and I've been so busy trying to find a neighbour to love that I missed my literal neighbours. Like Jody, or Orville across the way who hates my paint colour, and the lady next door whose name I never remember. Or the lady two doors down with cancer and the one beside her who rides a Harley and wears a Hell's Angels jacket in the summer. Also the little lady kitty corner to me who lives alone and shovels in blizzards.
So I shovelled today instead of going to the gym. I shovelled my little heart out - until my back was stiff and my fingers numb.
Why do I try so hard only to discover it's really so simple.
The kingdom of God is shovelling snow.
The kingdom of God is delivering pineapples to friends.
The kingdom of God is eating soup with my brother.
It's a good place. Illusive, abstract, and yet here, closer than the frigid air I breathe.
It doesn't cost anything per se, it just costs love.