I was surprised this morning by the low-ish tide, and delighted to go down to the beach to see what might be uncovered. I saw these two gumboot chiton armor plates which I love because they look like butterflies. When I first saw them, though, they were about 5 feet apart on the rock, too far to fit in one photo. So I moved one of them to be near the other.
How easy that was! It got me thinking about us. Those plates used to be connected, part of one organism. Time, birds, rocks and waves have separated them. We sometimes harbor the illusion that we are separate from one another. But we are not. We are all part of the web of creation, and we who call ourselves Christian know that we are all bound together as the Body of Christ. In life, though, time and distance, misunderstandings and hurts can tear the web, wound the Body, leaving bits and pieces on their own.
As I thought about how easy it was to move the shells together, I wondered if God wishes it would be that easy to bring us back together when something has torn us apart, to just move one or both of us. After all, God gave Ezekiel a vision of the valley of dry bones. "Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord."
God's dream is for us to know that we are one -- that separation is an illusion, however real it may feel. We have just entered the season of Lent. It is a good time to examine our broken relationships, with God and other people, and at least begin to do the work God invites us to do. God's hand will not move us without our consent. Will we yield?
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