Caring Community

Matthew 18:19-20 – Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (NIV)

We come across many verses in God's Word about gathering together, and about agreeing and being in unity. Like me, I would guess that you are continually amazed what we can experience and accomplish in pairs, in groups, in teams and in families.

I frequently take a holiday in our Victorian Salt Lakes area. Of course, thousands of our beautiful, gliding, diving, begging, flurrying, friendly white pelicans make their home there — I mean literally everywhere.

When a school of fish appears, a group of white pelicans will form a semi-circle on the water. Then they begin to swim in unison to the shore, flurrying their wings and driving the fish into the shallows. While the water is teeming with fish, they use their pouches like a net, scoop up the food, drain off the water, and swallow the fish. Sometimes, I've seen two semicircles of birds work toward each other to pool the fish, so they can all eat — a super-efficient working principle — and one we can all use.

These white pelicans are very sociable birds and seem to love the company of others. In their colonies, a resting group will all face the same way, with their beaks and pouches folded down their backs.

Have you noticed how clumsy and awkward pelicans look on land? Yet they are supremely graceful on the water and in the air. The pelican's graceful flight skills arise from its skeletal frame which is full of buoyant air. A network of air sacs under its skin also aids it in flight. The creatures unite their skills in the air, too, flying in formation, sometimes in a V-shape, each bird slightly ahead of the one alongside, sailing along more efficiently in the upwash from the bird ahead. Masters of the air, they use thermals to soar upward into the wind, cruising at altitudes up to 980 feet, beating their wings in perfect time together.

It is truly a wonderful sight to see the many pairs of these beautiful white birds together, often with their chicks, sharing their God-given living skills. Would that we learn a lesson from their co-operation!

Psalm 133:1 – How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! (NIV)

Prayer: Loving Father, thank You for all of Your blessed and pleasurable creation from which, through Your Holy Spirit, we can observe the many principles recorded in Your Word, which always steers us towards a more godly, wise, skilful, and productive life. In much gratitude, we praise You through Jesus' lovely name. Amen and Amen.

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