Unity of Connection

It is officially 2020.  A great year to remind us of clarity and vision.  This year my word is Connection.  By definition connection means a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something or someone else. Connecting has always been a struggle for me.  I have a big heart for people and I'm overly empathetic which over the years has led to much pain and heartache at the hands of unknowing people.  So over the years I built some walls and decided that pajamas and books or TV were preferable to true connection and relationships.  People are just extra hard sometimes and over the years I found it easier to avoid connection than to let anyone know too much or get too close.   When I was thinking of this word I was in the process of agreeing to step out of my comfort zone and lead a bible study group that I am involved in.  I joined this group for the very reason that I needed to connect.  As I began to think about this blog I looked over some of the recent ones and realized that just a few short months ago I wrote a blog called connection.  It was about a friend who I allowed myself to connect with who had passed away.  God's timing is so amazing.  That word and the steps I've taken since she passed away have led me to truly seek to be more intentionally connected. 

In the last few months God has been opening my eyes to the relationship between connection and unity.  Our churches and country seem so very disconnected right now and I believe that our culture today is lacking in both connection and unity.  I also believe that it is hard to have unity without connection.  I don't mean that unity means we are all thinking and believing exactly the same.  I believe that unity in the body is all believers seeking on major unifying factor - Jesus Christ.  When as believers we start to truly seek God through His word then we begin to love differently and look at the world differently.  I don't mean that we just love and overlook what scripture says but that we love people so that they want to know Christ and walk away changed.  Every encounter in the Bible that someone had with Christ they were loved into changing.  They made a connection with the life source that frees us from sin.  They not only walked away healed from their sickness but also from their sins. 

Unity does not happen without connection.  If you don't open yourself up with transparency and intimacy you can't love and see another person for who they really are.  It is impossible to fully unite with someone or something without an initial connection.  I'm prone to isolation myself and wonder at times the stories I've missed out on and the experiences I passed over because I didn't take a chance and connect with someone.  So this year I plan to be intentional in my connections.  Trying to be more aware of opportunities to let people a little closer and try to be more open to the hearts of those around me.  I hope that as you walk through this New Year you will strive to be connected in order to be more united in love.  Not allowing the world or differences in lifestyles, or religions drive you further apart.  Love like Jesus and He will do the uniting. 

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.