Friday, January 8, 2016

Mine, Mine, Mine!



  There's a book my 3-year-old has called The Mine-O-Saur about a selfish dinosaur who goes about taking everything from everyone and declaring it all "Mine!".  As the day for him goes on, exclamations of "Mine, mine, mine!" result in no friends, no fun, and eventually a changed dino.


  A cute story (though reading it a zillion times does get old... *if I have to make that whiny dino voice one more time...*), and a good lesson.  A lesson that is timely in our house as said 3-year-old and the 1-year-old are finally interacting a lot.  It's so precious when they're playing together, to hear their happy voices and see their pleasant faces enjoying their brotherhood.  But with such sweet moments inevitably come squalls of anger, fits of fighting, and shouts of "Mine!!"

  Ah, being a mom does also mean being a referee now, doesn't it :-)

  Dinos and toddlers may fit the mold of "Mine, mine, mine!" but sadly, doesn't our adulthood frequently look this way as well?

  Scroll through Facebook, and though we may not come out and say it anymore, how much of our themes are stemming from this declaration of "Mine!"?  Look at our daily lives, our interactions (or lack of), our hopes and dreams- isn't it often more tactful and hidden versions of "Mine, mine, mine!"?

  We certainly live in easy and tough times.  It's a rough combination-  the luxuries of this land and first world "problems" make us used to and expectant of high standards of comfort and ease.  The rocky terrain of our humanity, culture, and politics leaves us jarred from this comfortableness, and too often we sadly react with stomped feet and shouts of MINE!

  Our political views...  Guns- MINE!  Rights- MINE!  The constitution- MINE!  This country- MINE!  Morals- MINE! 

  And our personal lives... Jobs- MINE! Promotion- MINE!  Money- MINE!  Health- MINE!  Houses- MINE! 

  And, regretfully... I hear my own cries of mine... The kids won't nap? Free time- MINE!  The house is messed up again?  Clean house- MINE!  Up in the night with the kids for the 8 millionth time? Sleep- MINE! Not enough time in a day? To-do list- MINE!

  We are a stressed group, a selfish group, and goodness, how often they go hand in hand.

  This is what God's been teaching me lately.

  I am convinced that the more we could embrace the doctrine that all is HIS and nothing is MINE... well, peace that passes all understanding can be ours indeed.

  When everything is MINE then we always feel threatened, closing our tight fists tighter, trying to hold on in panic- mine, mine, mine!

  When everything is MINE then everyone is a threat to these possessions of ours- and so people become the enemy. 

     The government becomes the enemy because they're trying to take MY rights/values/things away.

     The husband becomes the enemy because he messed up MY clean house again.

     The children are the enemy because they're interrupting MY time again.

     The boss is the enemy because he didn't notice MY hard work again.

  When everything is mine than we live in a constant state of panic and possessiveness, acting crazy as that little dino clamoring and hoarding and defending- MINE, MINE, MINE!

  But...

  When everything is GOD'S and nothing is mine then we are freed from the burden of such sin and selfishness.  Closed-fists loosen and become God-intended open-hands.  The reaction of "Mine!" is replaced with the praise of "HIS!".  We no longer feel threatened, because we know all is God's anyway- nothing can be taken from me that wasn't mine in the first place.  And so we see ourselves in the Biblical view- being worthy of nothing but damnation.  Instead of demanding MINE, we can fall to our knees in awe at the blessings and gifts we have that we are so unworthy of.

  The understanding- true, deep, soul-understanding (we tend to have the head-knowledge down!) that everything is God's and nothing is mine will silence our shouts, nullify our nerves, and pacify our panic.

  We do not follow a faith that is easy, dear ones.  It is easy to shout "Mine!"  It is easy to close our fists and stomp our feet and make our demands!  But our faith does not call us to this.  Our faith calls us to give our coat to the one who takes our shirt (Matthew 5:40) and to take up our CROSS and follow Christ (Matthew 16:24).  And our faith promises us that if we try to save our life (mine, mine, mine!) we will surely lose it (Matthew 16:25).  Let us relinquish our imagined control over our lives and our environments and rest in the control that is God's alone (Psalm 24:1).

  And if we are to declare "Mine!" may we freely, thankfully, joyfully, claim this of our salvation and our call- and may the possessiveness of these cause us to surrender our perceived but pseudo possession of what on earth we could temporarily declare as "Mine, mine, mine!"

  

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I love this!! SO well-written, and so true. This is something I definitely need to meditate on- and work on!

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    1. Oh, thank you Carrie! It certainly something God is working on me with!

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