"Two Are Better Than One..."

When Terry and I were planning our wedding, we chose this ancient Biblical text as one of the readings at our ceremony:

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. 
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

This "better together" theme came to mind again when I was reading Joan Chittister's comments on "community":

"Neither communities nor families exist for themselves alone. They exist to witness to Christ... They exist to be miracle worker to one another. They exist to make the world the family it is meant to be...

... simply living with people does not by itself create community. People live together in armies and prisons and ... hospitals, but they are not communities unless they live out of the same reservoir of values and the same center of love... We have to share a common vision. We have to want good for one another...

... even liking one another is not enough... we have to be committed to the same eternal things together. What we want to live for and how we intend to live out those values are the central questions of community. Without that understanding, communities fail and marriages dissolve... 

Another function of community is to enable us to be about something greater than ourselves..." 

That's the mystery of "synergy" - a law in science that states that the combined efforts of two individuals will accomplish more than two individuals working separately! I find that so amazing!