Valley Princess

Learning to Love: Day 36

One Nation Under Man

A house divided cannot stand.1
It's like a castle in the sand.2
It's like a palace on the shore
With a storm coming to its door.
A house divided cannot live.
It won't repent and won't forgive.
It sharpens swords that it has made
Against itself, which blunts its blade.
It's a house stealing from itself
By baring its own pantry shelf.
It's a man tying himself down
With no hands to untie around.3
A house divided is our nation.
Let this be your Declaration.
It's soldier trips against her friend.
They fall together in the end.4
We are not out of many one.
We're not E Pluribus Unum.
We are out of one mass many.
Clinton had it right. Uncanny!5
We're divided in politics,
In religion, in our life rubrics
For what we set for our standards--
From our own values meandered.
Our entertainment is a rift
Where many fall. It's quite a shift
From where our convictions once came.
To media we shift the blame.
Why don't we unplug our cable,
Internet; make our minds stable,
Make convictions resolutions,
Make fights reconciliations?
This house divided will not stand
With what we want, what we demand.
May we from the paths we have trod
Become one nation under God.
  1. Matthew 12:25
  2. Matthew 7:26-27
  3. Matthew 12:29
  4. Jeremiah 46:12
  5. During his presidency, Bill Clinton accidentally said that E pluribus unum means “Out of one, many.”

Day 36

You do not need me to cite examples to know how divided our country is. At least one or two examples came to your own mind just now. We are divided politically, socially, racially, culturally, religiously, financially, aesthetically, and the list could go on. Why? Some people may say it is because we took prayer out of school, some may say it is the impact of relativism and secular humanism, some may say it is the media that can’t get a story right, etc. And though these things may be true, I believe they are not the source of the problem, but symptoms. Believers and nonbelievers have the same problem. Believers clash with nonbelievers, and believers clash with believers. James the brother of Jesus rhetorically asks, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” (James 4:1). Selfish passions in different people clash because each person wants to satisfy himself, and selfish and godly passions clash in a believer’s heart because we are redeemed but not yet fully sanctified. Apostle Paul says,

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these (Galatians 5:17-21a).

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit Who we receive only through our justification because of the atoning work of Jesus. Then we will have the power to “live peaceably with all” inasmuch as we can (Romans 12:18). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

If you enjoyed this material, please leave a like or comment on my blog, share, and you can purchase my book, Learning to Love: A Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, on Amazon. Until next time, God bless.

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Valley Princess
Sara DuVall is a wife and homeschool mom. She lives in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama with her husband and four children. Originally from the Florida Gulf Coast, she was raised in the church and worked for the church for some time. Sara has a MA in English literature and certificate in technical communication, having work experience in the field of technical communication and technical editing. Her BA is in cultural anthropology and English writing. Sara has been writing poetry since she was about 13 years old. Inspired by a poem written by her great-grandmother, Sara has studied and enjoyed the art of poetry ever since. She is a published short story author in Northwest Florida State College’s Blackwater Review (2006 and 2007). She is also an award-winning short story author at the University of West Florida (2009). She published her first book, Learning to Love: a Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, in 2021. The daughter of a choir director and college music teacher with an MA in voice, Sara was regularly exposed to music from an early age. Although she is a far cry from the vocal qualifications of her mother, and although she is not nearly as proficient a pianist as she should be from her tutelage, Sara has maintained her musical background by expressing herself through acoustic and classical guitar and the Native American style flute, composing many of her own songs. Besides writing and music, one of Sara’s favorite work experiences was as assistant curator of the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida where she got to accession people’s old stuff and guide tours about it. They just don’t make things like they used to.
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