Joined

Mark 10:2-16

Wow, I can't believe it's already Friday. I have to say I had a great week. I've had time to rest, made headway in some of the projects I've set out to do, and for the most part am very satisfied with where I am and the things I've done. I didn't achieve any of this alone, though. I spent a lot of time with my wife, friends, and family. I also spent a lot of time with myself and with my God. Not that anything was different in the things I did, I was just able to do it at a more leisurely pace.

Maybe it was the week I had, the time I had to enjoy it, or the focus I've had on the passages from this week's lectionary but I have to admit I truly see more than ever how we, as humanity, are dependent on one another. Take a look at your life and the things you've done recently. Can you honestly say that you've done anything alone - anything.

The answer should be no because even if you were camping deep in a forest with nothing but a tent and a campfire, you were surrounded by God's creation and therefore surrounded by God. Of course, even if you spent the week in a complete vacuum you were still with someone; you. Many years ago when I attended college the professor in my logic class made a statement which I think is a quote from someone famous. He said, "No matter where you go, you are there." That statement was meant to remind us that there is no escaping ourselves, that no matter what happens we will have to eventually understand it is us, as individuals, who are responsible for the things we do.

You see, our lives are what we make our lives to be. When we make decisions we make them with at least a small thought as to what's in it for us. That's just being human and there's nothing wrong with that. I will say, though, that the less you think of yourself in making decisions the happier it would seem you are, at least in my opinion. And that, I think, is what today's passage reminds me of.

God has put us together for a reason, and we don't always know what that reason is. If we accept the fact that we are in each other's lives for a reason, though, and are willing to open our hearts and minds to what those reasons may be, we get to the heart of what today's passage speaks to; that God put us together and we don't have the right to divide that unification.

To live in unity we have to find peace with one another. To find peace with one another we need to recognize it's God who brings us together. To recognize it's God who puts us together we need to empty ourselves of any and all blockades in order that we can be unconditionally accepting of one another.

It's a journey, join me on the path.