In a few weeks, I am heading north to spend time with family. For a few days, I will walk away from the moving and doing that fills my life. There will be no work to complete, no lawn to mow, or groceries to buy.

I will simply rest with people who squint their eyes when they smile like me, who share a love of black dirt and cornfields like me, and who need to jog it out when times are hard like me. We do not have to explain our ways to each other. Because we are made from the same blood and have spent hours upon hours living together, we simply know who we are.

There is an ease to our days because we are unified in our history, interests, and passions.

*Behold, how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!*

It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on the beard of Aaron, down upon the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon, were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore

-PSALM 133: 1-3

GIFT OF UNITY

Living together in unity as family is a miracle of a gift. David believes God values our unity so much, he calls it precious. He says it sticks to us and makes us fragrant. David is so in awe of unity, he calls it beyond imaginable; comparing its' probability to winning a mega-million lottery ticket. God gives us the improbable of bringing opposites together. From the mountains of Hermon to the small hill of Jerusalem, He brings together rural and urban, rich and poor, and north and south.

God brings us together not just for today, but for eternity.

He adopts us, people across cultures, into His bloodline as sons and daughters and gives us a place to dwell together for all of our days. We are miraculously unified by things bigger than cornfields and squinty-eyed smiles in our adoption. We are unified in our call to love Jesus deeply and to share our love of Him through our shared words and actions.

UNITY IN COMMUNITY

The action we take to receive the unity God gave us through the cross is to spend time together as brothers an sisters so we can develop shared interests and be unified in our passion to love our guests and family as we serve so they might love Jesus more.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we are often moving and doing without a lot of opportunity for rest. We are running errands, meeting work deadlines, looking after others, mowing yards, caring for children, and fixing broken things in our houses. parking cars, passing out bulletins, pouring coffee, and keeping watch at our doors. Our eyes are outward looking as we strive to check off the boxes of our daily grind making it hard to connect with the family and friends we are living shoulder to shoulder with.

God has called us to live in community with each other and by His grace, we are able to do so.

Like the time I will spend with family in a few weeks, there is rest in pausing from the moving and doing of life to be in community with family. Resting in community reminds us that rhythm is made in the pauses and breaths taken in between our moving and doing.

MARGIN in Action

Summertime is a time where many may find life runs at a different rhythm at work and home. As you settle into the rhythms this summer is bringing, take advantage of summer’s different margin to spend time together in community. Maybe it’s asking a coworker to go for a walk together before work or at lunchtime. Maybe it’s inviting a neighbor over to your home or meet for a meal during the week. Maybe it’s taking advantage of shorter commutes to sit down to eat a meal with your family. Maybe it’s taking a trip with a friend. Maybe it’s something else!