Application: It's been a very intense time for "kindred living together." Half a year into the coronavirus crisis, I don't need to tell you that for many families, "unity" sometimes feels more like an aspirational goal than an everyday reality. I don't have any magic bullets from the Bible to make a stressed, snippy family into a happy and unified one. I would guess we all know a few tricks, like getting sleep and exercise, eating nutritious food, taking quiet time alone each day, giving hugs, etc... I think we know what we can do, even if we don't always do it. But from Psalm 133, one thing I get is that when the unity happens, when things are clicking, and your family is working well together as a team, you should stop and take a mental snapshot. How good and pleasant it is! Maybe it feels rare. But I promise you it will feel a lot less rare if you make a note of it when it does happen. A favorite weekly ritual for our family, which started as a Lenten discipline, is that Tuesday night is "screen free night". After dinner, we turn off the TV and computers, stow the phones, and play board games, ask trivia questions, take walks, and just unplug. It makes me feel a little more human after a day of being tied to machines. That's worked for us. How good and pleasant it is!
Prayer: God, help us remember the unity, the good and the pleasant, the times when it's working. Use those moments to sustain us when life is stressful and hard. Amen.
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