Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

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Read

Psalm 133 (NRSV)

How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the LORD ordained his blessing,
life forevermore.

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Reflect

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” This I can attest to! After hearing horror stories from other married friends of mine, I know that is it very good and pleasant that I have a great relationship with my kindred—my mother-in-law. But moving past in-law relationships and the obsessive description of oil in Aaron’s overgrown beard, we get to the heart of this scripture—the connection between life together and God’s blessing—eternal life.

This text is connected to others that discuss living together in unity, including Genesis 36:7 where Esau moves away from his brother Jacob because “their possessions were too great for them to live together; the land where they were living could not support them…” I was convicted by this verse. How often have I let stuff—my possessions, my clothes, my bank account, my title, my house, my car, my fear, my insecurity, my to-do list—keep me from living with my brother and sister in unity? I immediately gave away 8 trash bags full of stuff, mostly clothes, the day I read this.

I have this false sense of security that my things will keep me safe. But if I stay in the safety zone with my stuff and my ego, I give up life with others, with God’s Creation… I give up life for evermore.

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Pray

God of relationship and communion, help me to be courageous daily to let go of my possessions that would separate me from my brother and sister in Christ and would be too much for the earth, and instead give in to eternal life together! Amen.

Go with God.