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Every once in a while, a golden moment happens at our house. The children play together peacefully! AG helps her brother find toys and doesn’t tattle on him or get annoyed with him or take everything away from him. LB doesn’t smack his sister on the head, or hit her arms, or knock her down. No one is screaming or smacking or stealing toys or whining.

Right now, AG is sitting on the floor reading a book. LB is peacefully playing with a bucket of toys a few feet away. If only I could somehow capture this peace and make it last…

These moments are not common, although thankfully they have been more frequent in the past few days than they have been for a while! As a mother, they make my heart sing – I see my kids loving each other and enjoying one another, and it thrills me.

It always brings to mind for me Psalm 133, a very short (only 3 verses long!) but sweet psalm about unity:

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

As the anointing of Aaron provided a rich spiritual blessing for the nation, and the water flowing down Mt. Hermon filled the Jordan river and provided a rich physical blessing, unity is good and pleasant blessing.

Sadly, Christians far too often act like my small children. We get possessive of “our” ministries or “our” posessions. We tattle on one another rather than seeking a solution for another’s good. We whine and cry and throw a fit (sometimes figuratively, sometimes not) when we don’t like the music choice at church or we feel like our “needs” and wants are being overlooked. How this must grieve the heart of the Father.

And how it must please Him when we work together as we should – the body of Christ working for His glory, not our own.

How good and pleasant it is.