Sunday afternoons we all head to my Uncle Charles and Aunt Myrna's for lunch after church. And when I say we all, I mean kids, grandkids, cousins, their friends, church friends, etc. My Aunt Myrna has one rule, "it's there till it's gone" so if you cruise you lose. Even a stray cat has figured out it's the place to be on Sunday. (Smile). We adults love it because it is the one place we catch up on everyone's life from the previous week and/or weeks. The little kids love it because it has a fenced-in back yard and toys and water toys and cars and trucks and balls, etc. However, even with all those toys the boys have developed the art of catching grasshoppers this past month. This Sunday was perfect for their new hobby because the weather was in the low 80's.
Have you ever noticed how ‘perfect’ can change on a dime when our flesh gets involved? And what could be more fleshly than a 2 year old and a 4 year old (there is about 60-69 lbs of combined pure flesh between them) fighting over grasshoppers. They are both fleshing out with their mindset of ownership which translates to the word 'mine'. It started several weeks ago when they were asked to share the container that housed the grasshoppers. Riley (4) rightly established with Braxton (2) that the container belonged to him. "It's mine"! Braxton then proceeded to look around until he saw something that he proclaimed as 'mine'. What proceeded was a good 5 minutes of ‘name it and claim it' by the two. “Mine!” “No mine!” “No mine!” “Mine!” I finally had to laugh out loud when I had interjected to Riley that something he had claimed as 'mine' actually belonged to his granny. At which point, he looked at little Braxton with all the authority a 4 year old can muster and said, “My granny's!”
It starts early, doesn't it, the belief system that we actually own things - that the things we have are 'mine'? In fact don't we, as adults, fight with God, our spouse, our children, bosses, employees, etc. because of the heart attitude that lies behind the word 'mine'?
Solomon, the wisest man ever, addressed the topic of 'mine' this way......
As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. Ecclesiastes 5:15
God is clear in His Word about ownership....
To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. (Deuteronomy 10:14)
For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10)
The world is mine, and all that is in it. (Psalm 50:12)
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine," declares the LORD Almighty. (Haggai 2:8)
Simply put, how many times a day do you secretly and or verbally say 'mine'?
Love You All and Learn to Share! (smile)
His,
Vickie
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