Mine!

25 Feb

For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.  (Lk 6:38b)

I have said this many times in the past.  It seems that a child’s first words are — pretty much in order — 1) Mommy, 2) Daddy, and 3) MINE!

A child can be pretty vicious when it comes to the “mine” time of life.  The child will tug and pull to get an item away from a parent or a sibling.  If necessary, the child will destroy the object rather than give it up to anyone else.

Why?

Because it’s MINE!

We keep that mentality through a large portion of our lives.  We become people who gather, who count our possessions, who hoard, who do not want to share.

Where does that leave us?

People who struggle so hard to possess the most and to hold on to those possessions develop high blood pressure, ulcers, cardiac conditions, and a whole host of illnesses.

It just isn’t worth it.

Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel that possessing and hoarding is not what it’s all about.  What is more important is our willingness to share.

Many of us do, indeed, have much.  We may have many talents.  We may have much money.  We may simply have a lot of “stuff”.

We have been given all of that to benefit others.

That is what we are challenged to do today, to benefit others from the store of goods that God has entrusted to us.

Are you up to it?

FAITH ACTION:  Be as generous as you possibly can be today without looking for anything in return.