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“Everybody needs someone beside em’ shining like a lighthouse from the sea.”

from “Brother” by NEEDTOBREATHE

 

Listen

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their hard work. If either should fall, one can pick up the other. But how miserable are those who fall and don’t have a companion to help them up! Also, if two lie down together, they can stay warm. But how can anyone stay warm alone? Also, one can be overpowered, but two together can put up resistance. A three-ply cord doesn’t easily snap.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Think

You’ve heard it before: strength in numbers. We use this expression in so many ways: survival, making hard work easier, safety, and sometimes just for fun. This expression has become so well-known because it conveys a profound truth. We are stronger when we are in community. There is no doubt that we are each strong and capable as individuals, but in community, we are capable of so much.

Community can be made up of friends and family, of course, but also of teachers, coaches, classmates, neighbors, and even that stranger you see each day but never talk to. Community is all of God’s children.

We each have a place in community because we are all part of the same family. We are called to seek people out and to be sought out. We are never alone; there is always a brother or sister in Christ nearby, and if we allow that relationship to form, we are so much stronger for it.

Ashley Lytle Carr

Pray

Strong and mighty Lord, you know my strengths and my weaknesses more than I know myself; help me to seek out others in order to make strong that which is weak and to lift up those who need help to fulfill your will for us in this life. Amen.

Go

Remember that in Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells us: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” God is present in the midst of our squads, no matter what they look like.

Go now into your day, and as you go:

Be in relationship.

Seek out God’s children.

Meet them with love.

Practice kindness.

Live together in peace.

Know that God is there.