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“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1 (NKJV)

Once again amid social injustice, systemic racism, open and blatant expressions of prejudice, we find ourselves doing what some believe we can’t do or shouldn’t do and that’s uniting together to help one another. It’s amazingly simple that trauma and disasters have a way of bringing people together.

Whether we want to give God credit or not, the cold hard facts are that this winter storm had no respect of person. Everyone felt the cruel blast of the Arctic. No home was safe from the threat of power outages and loss of water.

For those who took the necessary steps to winterize their homes, God bless you.

However, there were hundreds of thousands of homeowners lining the aisle of Home Depot, Lowe’s and mom and pop hardware stores looking for repair parts.

What I experienced, as I myself was among those seeking repair parts, was the knowledgeable helping those who were unknowledgeable. Those who didn’t know what to do and what to ask for, being assisted by those who knew what to do and what to ask for.

The beauty of what I saw as I stood back and watched the beauty of unity unfold was a mosaic of people coming together. Sharing common experiences. Not caring about the pigmentation of the person standing next to them, their age, gender, ethnicity or economic status.

The cold hard fact is no particular people were exempt from the bite of this cold snap.

The cold hard fact is that we can come together and work together if we have a warm heart to do so.

Just think, if trauma and disasters draw people together to work together, what might happen if we just made this a way of life throughout our community?

Think of it this way: We receive an formal invitation to attend a joyous occasion like a wedding, but never receive an formal invitation to attend a funeral. Why is this? There is the gathering and dining after the ceremony or service. One has a formal invitation and the other doesn’t.

Just maybe if we continued to bond and unite together, we may not suffer so many disasters in our community?

The cold hard facts is, no matter how dark and cold the situation might be, it takes warm hearts, heads, and hands to dwell together in unity.

What does the cold hard facts say about ours?

Rev. Demetrius Moffett is Senior Pastor of Orange Church of God-Embassy of Grace, 1911 North 16th Street in Orange.