Ownership

Ah, ownership!  We base our value on what we own, yet we really own nothing!
I've completed reading Bonhoeffer - a heavy, thought-provoking read indeed - so much to write after reading that - and have gone back to reading the works of C.S. Lewis.  Currently I'm reading "The Screwtape Letters," a series of 'letters' from one demon to another concerning how to get and keep their subject from God or any knowledge of Him.  C.S. Lewis has a flare for spiritual insight of ordinary life, and these letters are bursting with a stream of analogies, one of them being ownership, which caused me to really think.
People have a deep desire to possess things, be it homes, cars, clothes, furnishings, books, technology, pets, friends, spouses, and even other people, yet in reality we possess nothing, not even time.  Yes, think about that.  We get up in the morning, and most of us willingly go off to work and give 7 or 8 (sometimes more) hours of our day to our employer, but who gave the time to us?  Can we absolutely 100% for certain tell our boss that we'll continue to give our time?  Are we certain a week from now that time will be ours to give?  In reality the answer is 'no' because all we have is the very second we are breathing, nothing more.  Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.  Time comes from God and is His gift to us.
Further thoughts on ownership reveal even more disappointment.  We think we own our houses, even when we pay off that mortgage, but we don't.  If you don't pay your taxes, you can bet your bottom dollar that the house will be taken from you.  And if you don't pay the mortgage payment every month, the house can be repossessed by the bank who does own it.  Cars can be repossessed if not paid in full, and the threat of theft is always present, too, not to mention demolition of the car in an accident.  No more car.  Pets eventually die, friends move on or dessert us, spouses betray and often leave us - yet we claim ownership to all these things.  People even try to own people by enslaving them and using them for sex and/or labor, but even that can be ended by the people escaping from their grasp or by them being rescued and freed.  Besides, possessing someone's body is not equated with owning their spirits. There is nothing material in this world that we can take from it when we leave it.  We didn't even have a say in when we were born and won't have a say (generally) in when we die. 
Everything to which we claim 'ownership' in this life can be taken from us because we don't really own anything.  God owns it all.  "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine."  Psalm 50:10-11.
God gives us everything to use while we live on the earth He created.  "Then the Lord Good took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it."  Genesis 2:15.  To tend is to care for and nurture.  I don't think God's hightest creation is taking very good care of the planet He created for our pleasurable and beneficial use. 
Yet there is one thing that God gives us and which we can take with us; it is, in fact, the only thing of lasting value and the only thing we can truly own.  It is a relationship with Himself.  This is the only thing that will give our lives purpose and value, the only thing which has worth in the life to come, and the only thing which we can take with us.  It is our key to eternal life with God in heaven. 
What do you own?

Goals

With the calendar flipping over into a new year, I'm setting goals just like most of you, but first on my list is to make a list of goals both for myself and with my husband.  This won't be easy, I can assure you, as one of us is more relaxed about the future than the other.  Maybe "relaxed" isn't the right word, so I should probably change that to unconcerned. 
I had received a gift card to a book store for Christmas, so last evening I went there and purchased 2 books with the intention of actually reading some deep writing, something to make me think deeply and consider the blessings in my life more fully.  The two books I bought were "Bonhoeffer" and "The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics" consisting of "Mere Christianity," "The Screwtape Letters" (which I may have read in my younger years, but I'm not sure), "The Abolition of Man," "The Great Divorce," "The Problem of Pain," "Miracles," and "A Grief Observed."  Having begun to devour the C.S. Lewis book, I realize that he was a deep thinker who put his thoughts precisely on paper, dissecting them and laying them out in orderly fashion, yet the subjects about which he wrote were often ordinary.  Too busy to do this in our day and time, even though we have a great tool in the computer, we rush through our days and give little thought to more than what's for dinner or where we need to take the kids after school.  Sadly, our thoughts swim in a shallow pond and don't delve into deep ocean waters that can hold both mysteries and understanding.  And so my journey into deeper waters begins with C.S. Lewis.
I've heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer but know the barest of facts about him.  I probably won't get to that book until the summer, not wanting to just read C.S. Lewis's stories as a butterfly flitting on the wind.  I want to get some meat out of them. 
With my thoughts tilted toward deeper reading, my heart leans toward a deeper walk with God.  Everyday living has a way of sucking the very life from our bones, leaving us dry and withered, unproductive and somewhat hopeless.  I've been there and have felt the crush of responsibility robbing me of life's simple pleasures.  One of my goals is to live more fully, and if that means dust balls rolling through the house in order for me to spend time with my grandkids, so be it.  I'm certainly not getting any younger, and only God knows the number of my days, so I want to laugh more, work less, love more, and work less.  More of God; more fun and more laughter; more of family and more of friends.  It won't happen unless I change my habits; it won't happen unless I make deliberate choices to make it happen.  I'll need to stay focused on my goals and pray that God will help me see things more clearly in light of eternity.
My grandson Niland called me today and invited me to dinner, telling me I could help him fix my favorite dish and I could eat half of it.  He told me he loved me and missed me; I last saw him on Christmas Day, and I was thinking about him just before he called.  Benny chimed in after Niland, and it broke my heart that work has kept me from them.  I saved the precious message on my phone, called back during my break, and arranged for them to spend the night Saturday.  That's living more fully!  I can't wait to hug them!