Have you ever tried to play matchmaker with your friends? You know, like when you’re dating someone, and then you try to hook your best friend and his or her best friend up together. If it works, it’s the best feeling ever because you know you’re set on double dates for a lifetime! If it doesn’t, well . . . things have the potential to be a tad awkward. Anyway, the point I want to make is that it feels amazing when you see two people who never knew one another before that you care about get together and enjoy one another’s company. There’s nothing like seeing unity between people who had no unity before. There’s power and life in it.
This is why I love unity so much and why I love striving to see it happen. I love playing the matchmaker, not just in relationships but in friendships and business situations, as well. I love whenever I have two different groups of people I know come together to hang out and everyone has something in common. It always makes for a good time. I also enjoy seeing people connect who have never connected before. When folks find common ground in something and begin to share successes and struggles, it’s one of the realest things humans can do.
Lately, I’ve been reading the book of Nehemiah (Knee-huh-my-uh), and it’s a book full of unity. It’s a story of a guy getting together an entire group of different families and people in order to achieve a common goal based off of a commonality- their faith. Nehemiah is essentially a book about a guy who finds out the wall of Jerusalem has been knocked down. He goes off to rebuild it, and with the help of the Jewish people coming together, they rebuild the entire wall in just 52 days, despite (a lot of) opposition- An entire wall around a city, while fighting off bad guys in just 52 days. That’s fast, especially for ancient times. More so than just finishing an entire city’s wall in 52 days, everyone in the parts surrounding Jerusalem became terrified because of the work God had done in them to finish the wall saw fast. All the people from the outside looking in saw the unity the Jewish people had in their faith in God, and the outsiders were afraid all because of the unity they saw, and all because of the unity they saw, they saw God. Weird how all that works, huh?
Unity is a powerful thing, and that’s why it’s so special. It’s amazing when people can set aside their differences, come together over a common cause and overcome whatever obstacles are in their way. Whether it’s the United States turning from their political differences and coming together during a time of national crisis, a small town like Stillwater, Okla. coming together time and time again after a tragedy or simply a couple set up on a blind date, when unity happens, it’s a special thing. There’s nothing like it in the world. Strive for unity.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: There’s beauty in unity.