Thoughtful About . . . Half of a Unit

We’re surrounded by them. Couples. Siblings. Families that are super close. People we think of individually, sure, but also, always, as part of a unit.

Over the weekend my husband and I went to the airport to pick up friends flying home from a mission trip. As I was saying a prayer for them the next morning, they came to mind as they often do: Mike and Terri. I’ve thought of them this way for nearly 30 years. Mike and Terri. And it got me thinking.

What units have I been a part of in my life? Growing up, I was often grouped in with my sister: Jennifer and Roseanna. Just like my kids: Xoe and Rowyn. My nieces: Isabelle and Paisley. Because these groups tend to travel together. Share space. Live in the same home. Because when you see one, chances are you see the other.

But these units change as children grow up, don’t they? Then they’re often paired with their friends. In high school, my friend and I joked that people seemed to think our name was Jen-and-Annie.

Then it becomes the couples. David and Roseanna. Brian and Jennifer. Mike and Terri. And so on.

It’s a normal thing, in life. We spend time with people. So in the minds of other people, we’re a unit. We arrive together. We share time and space. We have the same stances on things, usually. We work together.

We’re a unit.

It’s a normal thing, in life…but one that shifts. Relationships break. People pass away. Move away. Things come between us. Distance, sometimes physical and sometimes emotional. The unit breaks down.

But there’s one unit that shouldn’t. I wonder though…

Do people ever think of us as part of a unit with Him? Do people know what when we show up, the Spirit does too? Can strangers ever glimpse Jesus walking with us as surely as our spouses do?

That’s what the Church should be, right? The bride to Jesus, the bridegroom. The other half of His unit. But are we? Can we be, when we fight so much among ourselves that one has to wonder what “The Church” even means anymore?

At the end of the day, that’s the only unit that matters…but the one so often neglected. I strive to keep accord between me and my husband, for example–do I strive to keep it even more between me and my Lord? Do I spend more time with Him than my family? My spouse? Am I in unity with my God?

These earthly relationships, the earthly units are important. But not as important as unity with Him. So that’s something I’m going to be thinking more about. How do we fill in this blank in our lives?