About the Author

Lucretia is a wife, mom of three, and a TEDx and Q Ideas speaker (Charlotte, NC, 2017). As a former college professor, she designed the popular ‘beginners’ course and study guide, What LIES Between Us: Fostering First Steps Toward Racial Healing. She is the creator and director of the Brownicity.com...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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Comments

  1. Pitch perfect. Thank you for these words of encouragement and challenge. Harmony keeps each note unique, but the combined sound is beautiful. Keep writing. Your words are needed. Your words hold so much wisdom.

  2. I’ve always loved the word HARMONY. Prayers that I may live a life of harmony in marriage, as a mother, grandmother, friend and human passerby.

    • Hi Carmen.
      Your harmony prayer is powerful. I am going to incorporate it into my life. Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement.

      Shalom
      LCB

  3. Thank you for this…and for your blessing at the end. May we all reach for harmony!

  4. I totally agree! Unity means we become one, and so we each lose what makes us unique. However, in harmony, each of our unique selves blend together to make something beautiful as opposed to discord. I, too, choose harmony.

    • Hi Victoria.
      Yes, ‘harmony’ communicates a picture of necessary parts of a whole. Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement.

      Shalom
      LCB

  5. My daughter has a friend named “Harmony” and she is the only young lady I know with this name. I too, like that term in music, as a name, and also in our lives. I can’t believe I read this devotion this morning because my daughter and her friend Harmony are visiting a Yoga camp together for a week. May we learn to live in Harmony!

  6. Thank you, Lucretia, I really appreciate your wisdom. This understanding of harmony is something I can hold on to.

  7. Lucretia,

    Unity means being combined as a whole. Harmony is the pleasant combination of people or parts into a pleasing or orderly whole. Almost like a working together for the good of whole. Therein lies the reason we like harmony better. Harmony doesn’t change a person it uses its talents for the betterment of the whole. Praying we can all work together in harmony to create a world full of peace.

    Blessings 🙂

  8. Lucretia, this is lovely. The blending of different ideas to create harmony! It feels like that would not require any of us to give up our stands on issues. But, if our positions are built on falsehoods, we will still need to set them aside. And that can be painful.

    • Hi Irene!
      Harmony requires the right notes and sounds; otherwise, it’s a cacophony — it’s chaos. Thank you for sharing.
      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  9. I love your God given ability to speak your mind. What you have said is so profound. It also relates to relationships in families, since most have dysfunctional elements. Only in Christ is harmony to be achieved, I believe. I love music and so harmony to me is understood best as melodies sang by distinct voices that blend into chords. Thanks to Jesus, I have been able to soar and grow. Even though my home is full of discord, when I listen to his commands and do what he requires, life is full of purpose (being like Christ) and hope.

    • Hi Charlene!
      Thank you for sharing that with God’s divine love as our center, we can reach harmony.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

    • HI Diana!
      It brings me joy to know that God winked at you through my words.
      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  10. That was absolutely a beautifully put devotional! I will always see Psalms 133 in a different light of understanding! Thank you, Sharon

  11. I love this. I’ve never enjoyed singing in unison, but harmony makes my heart sing too. How much more beautiful taking different individuals and blending in love and respect to live in a fuller state of beauty. Thanks!

    • Hi Janet!
      You wrote, ‘blending in love and respect to live in a fuller state of beauty.’ YES!!! Thank you for sharing.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  12. Lucretia,

    I loved, loved, loved this post. Thank you for sharing it. I thought some about unity vs. harmony. I’m wondering if it didn’t strike you right because (a) it’s indeed overused, kind of like the media overdoing their cutesy cliches like Benifer. It’s lost its significance. I also truly do wonder if the definition itself (quality of state o not being multiple) is what struck you. It struck me. I do think harmony is so much better here. It does show that differences, especially like you discussed, and dwell together without angst. Thank you again. I always love your posts.

    • Hi Jennifer,
      I wonder if it’s because ‘unity’ is overused without thought to what is required to achieve it. I’m not sure. But I appreciate learning more through Psalm 133.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  13. Thank you for your wonderful message that intrigued me. Like you, I prefer the definition of harmony over unity. It refreshed my spirit, and gave me hope for our society. God bless you sister in the faith.

    • Hi Mary!
      It brings me joy to know that you were refreshed! I needed refreshing as well.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  14. I love this devotion. I love learning new things, and the new things here were so interesting! The Scripture struck me as well, in a good way, of course. I love the idea of different people being in harmony with each other, despite those differences. That can be so difficult. I am friends with the woman who lives across the hall from me in my apartment building. We are vastly different from each other, and we have struggled a lot in our friendship. I have thought several times about Proverbs 27:17, where it says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” The explanation of this verse is that in Bible times, one blade was used to sharpen another, making both more effective. Harmony can be so difficult to achieve, but struggles are what purify us, and more specifically, struggles within a relationship are one thing that draws us closer together. Truly, we do need each other.

    • Hi Deborah!
      I am happy to meet another lover of learning! May divine love forge a healthy relationship between you and your neighbor.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  15. we are not God, nor equal to Him, and who are you or we to use our words to say what God has “conceived” in His mind? also, do you or I actually profess or try to teach that Jesus “walks beside” you or I???

    we should be falling down flat on our faces in repentance for all mankind! buzz words bigtime for false gods are permeating polluted teaching/teaching. nothing but the Blood of Jesus can make us pure! love you

    • Hi Michelle!
      This has been my experience as well!

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  16. Hi Lucretia,
    I agree with everything you state about the word unity and harmony.

    In addition to unity, in relationships I have always struggled with the word, compromise. We make sacrifices, sometimes we keep track of what each other is doing like a score card. We feel justified in doing something we want because our partner of friend did something they wanted to do or a place to go. Harmony is such a peaceful place to live in a relationship with friends, partners and God. Living harmoniously flows and feels so much better, as we are in tune with each other’s needs, wants and desires. We do things and act out of love for each other when living in harmony. Living life without a score card, but rather living life with acts of selfless love, peace and harmony.

    Thanks again,
    Blessings,
    Michael

    • Hi Michael!
      WOW! I had not thought about the word ‘compromise’ as a misnomer for living ‘in tune with each other’s needs, wants and desires.’ Thank you for sharing your thoughts and expanding my understanding.

      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  17. Hi Michael!
    WOW! I had not thought about the word ‘compromise’ as a misnomer for living ‘in tune with each other’s needs, wants and desires.’ Thank you for sharing your thoughts and expanding my understanding.

    Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

    Shalom
    LCB

    • HI Eileen.
      Thank you for reading. I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB

  18. Oh my goodness, yes, harmony is the perfect word! The word “unity” bothers me too. You help me see that it is because it does seem too similar to uniformity. I always appreciate your posts so much because they reveal new things for me to consider. Thank you for your words and explanations.

    • Hi Barbara!
      Thank you for reading. I am glad that my story is meaningful to you.
      I am grateful for your encouragement. May we live harmoniously.

      Shalom
      LCB