REFLECTIONS

Harmony of Differences

Joy rang through Johnny’s melody as he remembered those good times in his life. He recalled that “Daddy sang bass, Mamma sang tenor, me and little brother hung right in there.”And whether or not his story is true, one can just hear the Cash family quartet energetically bursting forth with Gospel songs on Sunday mornings.

Growing up in my home, we seldom sang together. But I remember that Daddy sang tenor, Mom had an alto voice, and maybe me and little brother hung right in there with our parts too. But I know this. We were a harmony of differences—different bodies with different talents displayed in different ways each serving to benefit the whole.

God designed our bodies that way too. Paul explained it this way:

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Cor12:17-20)

Too often we live as if we are not a part of a greater whole; and even when we do, we act as if our part is the most important, discounting those with different talents from our own. We try to train our children to be just like we are when God didn’t make them that way. We compete against each other to climb the ladder we call success while losing sight of the score we are called to play together. Different parts serve different needs and all the parts when played together blend into a harmony of differences that sends a message more powerfully than any of us can by playing alone.

Johnny Cash experienced some rough times in his life. But he landed on the good side and reached super-stardom in country music. But he didn’t make it on his own. The foundation of music at home taught the need for harmony—each person singing different notes in different pitches set to a common musical score. And the harmony of differences rang forth through his music more powerfully than he could have ever done by singing alone.

The body of Christ is a harmony of differences each serving to benefit the whole. And always remember,

You have an important part to play in it.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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