Lent Devotional: Harmony

These are my kids.  Well, they're not really mine but I sure am proud of them.  They are a few of the Kenyan orphans that live at the Hope For Children Center.  One of the things I love most about visiting with them is the opportunity to hear them sing. It is really quite amazing.  Somehow their song leader gives them their pitches (by singing them) and then they just jump right in with all sort of harmonies blending together to make a beautiful sound.  It is also really awesome to see the younger children's excitement when they are invited into the choir to sing for the first time.  They can hardly wait to get up there and sing with their siblings.  
You might think that living in an orphanage with a hundred other kids would promote a lot of strife and struggle.  It might be a lot like living here in the US where often sharing things can just become a nasty process between brothers or sisters.  It amazes me each time I visit this  wonderful place how smoothly things seem to go.  I spend time with the girls in their dorm, talking and listening.  I do the same with the boys, listening to their needs and desires.  They are all on the same team.  If one person is experiencing hardship, they will take up the fight to make sure something is done about it.  Living life there is a lot like the way they sing - each person singing  a note that blends with the others to produce a beautiful melody.  

Ephesians 4 says:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

While so much about our society and family lives seems compartmentalized or fractured, how do you strive for unity?.  Surely we too have been given a voice to contribute to the harmony of life and faith.  Where have you experienced this type of togetherness?  Where do you long for unity?  What can you do promote unity in your family or church?

Prayer:  God, you are One in Three, you show us that all things can work together for good.  Help us to work together with our brothers and sisters in the world that peace might prevail.  Help me to stay in tune with your Spirit's leading in my life, that I may sing my song boldly.  Thank you for giving me a song to sing and a voice that matters. Amen.