The Power of Unity

I've been thinking a lot lately on the subject of unity. The Lord has said: "...I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27) http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/38.27?lang=eng#26 What a powerful statement! If we are not unified, if we are not one, the Lord doesn't claim us as his own. There are so many people in the world who believe so many different things. Yet, the Lord expects us all to get along. He said: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

I thought hard about what I might share to explain what I'm getting about in terms of unity. You definitely have to be unified in sports. If you're not unified as a team(or with yourself if it's an individual sport), you won't win. However, while I was thinking of some totally awesome sports clip to share...something from my childhood popped into my memory. Now you may think it's silly, but I loved watching Saturday morning cartoons as a child. One of these shows was called Digimon. It's been so long since I've even heard of Digimon that I wonder how this clip came into memory, but it did. The clip I want to show is from the ending of one of the last episodes in season one.  At this point in the show, the kids and their Digimon (creatures that they're paired up with) think they've defeated all the evil enemies that have been threatening their world (normal life), and the Digital World (some crazy other dimension) for good. However, they've still have one challenge left to face, and it's their hardest one yet. This evil monster introduces himself, destroys their crests (or the source of their power, which allows the Digimon to transform into stronger creatures), and transforms them all into data. We'll pick it up from there...

Yes, I know...a lot of it is really cheesy and weird, but keep in mind that it's a children's show. The message I wanted to get across is these kids were in a tough spot. All of the odds were against them. They were data, they had lost the source of their power so their friends couldn't transform, and there didn't seem to be much hope for them. Notice at the beginning how when they first become data, they're shown as individuals, but at the end, they're a team, and their power returned. Imagine what we could do as the family of God if we were all unified. What kind of power would we have? What sort of obstacles could we overcome? The love of the Savior will make it easier to overlook our petty differences and become united as children of God.