I was walking through my neighborhood the other day, serenaded by the deafening buzz of the periodic cicadas.  It was amazingly loud.  I was just getting irritated when a song popped into my head. It was, “One Voice” written by Ruth Moody of The Wailin’ Jennys.  You can listen to it here.

The song is profoundly simple. The first verse begins with, “This is the sound of one voice” sung solo. The second starts with, “This is the sound of voices two” sung in simple harmony. The third has three-part harmony as they sing, “This is the sound of voices three”. Then everyone in the audience joins in, “this is the sound of all of us”.  The final verse has everyone singing, “This is the sound of one voice.  One people, one voice”. It’s a gentle reminder that we need each other. One voice is beautiful, but all of us working together as one body is better.

That song has helped me hear the cicada chorus a little differently.  Yes, it was still very loud, about 90 decibels, but it brought me to a spiritual place. They reminded me of Paul’s teaching about how none of us has all the gifts, the body of Christ today is made up of all of us bringing our gifts together to make change. One of us working alone simply isn’t enough. We need each other.

As that song runs through my mind, I am reminded that we live in a world infused with spirituality.  Nature constantly nudges us to remember the basic spiritual lessons. In this case, the lesson is that humanity is not intended to be entirely alone. We are intended to work together as one body.

What spiritual lessons has the world taught you today?