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10 Minutes Peace
by Susan McGrath
My son has a book that I love reading to him called Mine! It's about a little girl who never wants to share her toys.
A friend comes over to play, and with each toy her friend picks up she yells, "Mine!" and takes it away. Mom intervenes and suggests they play with her new tricycle. They take it to the park and the little girl rides for awhile. But when her friend wants a turn she yanks it away and yells, "Mine!" The tricycle flies out of her hand and rolls down a hill, bouncing and banging along the way, losing parts left and right.
When they all reach what's left of the tricycle at the bottom of the hill the friend looks at it and says, "Yours!" and walks away.
I know my kids can be selfish and thoughtless when it comes to what they think belongs to them. Maybe you can relate.
But what happens when we, as mature adults and hopefully growing Christians, feel ourselves falling into the "mine" trap. It may not be over "toys" or even our tithes and offerings to the Lord. But we may forget to pray over a tough decision, thinking we know best and don't need God's counsel. Maybe when it comes to our children (they're definitely ours, right?) we are the final authority on what is best.
Well, God has a few things to say about what belongs to whom:
Revelation 7:10 -- "Salvation belongs to our God . . ."
Ezekiel 18:4 -- "Every living soul belongs to me . . ."
Job 41:11 -- "Everything under heaven belongs to me . . ."
Psalms 111:10 -- "To him belongs eternal praise."
Job 12:13 -- "To God belong wisdom and power."
Job 12:16 -- "To him belong strength and victory . . ."
However, God also promises that some things belong to us:
1 John 2:25 -- "This is what he promised us - even eternal life."
Romans 5:1 -- "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Matthew 11:28 -- "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
God makes it easy on us. He takes care of most everything if we remember it is His to begin with. Take time this week to give back to God what is His, not just in service and finances, but control in all areas of your life.
Rate it:
a recovering journalist trying to encourage others and glorify God through writing;
living the small-town life with husband Tim and sons Lincoln, 12, and Sawyer, 6;
completing a few put-off writing projects while using chocolate for therapy.
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