"I…beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace." (Ephesians 4:1-3)
I keep thinking about Grace...more and more as the days pass and the time draws closer to our anticipated travel dates. And I've been thinking about Ephesians 4 off and on all day. It's a chapter about unity. Psalm 133 also talks about unity and God describes it's beauty in that Psalm. It's also something Jesus prayed we'd have in John 17. Must be pretty special.
Unity of the Spirit is something I believe begins with being one with the Lord. Agreeing with Him about Who He is and who I am, and agreeing with His Word by following His truth. From there unity flows into relationships with others, beginning with family members and reaching out to friends and acquaintances.
As I've rolled this over in my mind again in the past 24 hours, I've thought about Grace coming in to our home. In the beginning, she won't speak or understand our language. Communicating with her will be a challenge. Much of what she learns about me, and our family in the beginning, will be communicated by the spirit of our home. Just like a baby can sense when something is wrong, Grace will develop an opinion about us by sensing the spirit of who we are. How I pray she finds an Ephesians 4 family, a family that's humble, gentle, patient, making allowances for each other's faults because of our love. The Holy Spirit unites us and gives us peace as we call upon Him and follow Him.
Jesus said in John 14:27, "My peace I give you…" Peace is a gift. A gift the world needs. I pray that the spirit of our home is always peaceFUL; and that Grace knows that before she's even able to understand it.
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