Be United

When I had back surgery in October 2018, I spent a lot of time reading during my recovery. I was reading 3-5 books at a time, some actual books and some audio, but reserving different ones to coincide with an activity. One of the books I listened to while I did my stretches was “Everything Happens for a Reason: and Other Lies I’ve Loved” by Kate Bowler. I’d lay there with my eyes closed listening to her story and found strength in knowing I wasn’t fighting back to recovery on my own.

It was shortly after I started back to work and didn’t have the time to read as often, I started to listen to podcasts. I was super excited one day when Kate Bowler was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts. I became this total “fan girl” by commenting on Instagram how much I loved the book and was happy to hear Kate was working and still fighting her battle with colon cancer. She even had her own podcast which I immediately subscribed to and began to listen.

All of this set up to say, the other day on the podcast, Kate had Ari Johnson join her to discuss how we are all connected to one another. Ari Johnson is the CEO and Founder of Muso, an organization helping people living in poverty, primarily in Mali have access to health-care. He shares his story of how he got started doing this work and the impact it has had in just a few year. However, it wasn’t the specific work he is doing or the change he has inspired that struck me the most, though both of these things are tremendous. It was how animate Ari was about how we are all connected regardless of race, religion or any other type of division a person might throw out there. He said, and I’m paraphrasing, that on any given morning he can sit down with a cup of coffee grown in Columbia, wearing a shirt made in India and shoes from Polynesia.

I love this! Plus it was the perfect reflection for this scripture (thank you God for your timing)! We are connected in ways we don’t even realize and support one another through our purchases and by expressing our preferences. The things that make us unique are the exact things that make us more united. It’s such a beautiful thing.

Ari also spoke about how everything boils down to love. How do you love your neighbor? It is the most pure tie that binds! Read the scripture again, “be united in the same mind and in the same purpose”, spoken and written by St. Paul but inspired by the wellspring of LOVE, God!

I recommend you listening to the podcast, “Everything Happens” with Kate Bowler, especially this episode if this intrigues you but really ALL of her episodes are thought provoking. She is not afraid to talk about death, loneliness or other difficult topics others tend to ignore but she does it in a way we can learn and grow in understanding that these are all part of the human experience.