MINE!

Remember in Finding Nemo when those birds all start 'My-ing'.  You know...."myyy, myy, my, my, myyyy, my, my, myy..."  (ok admit, you just read it like they say it in the movie....I may or may not have done the same thing while typing it.)

Well, it's annoying.

Kind of like when I'm driving and I have a toddler strapped in the backseat of my car screaming, "MINE, MIIIIIINE, MINE, MINE, MIIIIIIINE"  Although it sounds more like, "MY-EEEEN".  Over and over and over and ugh.

Moments like that, I wish I were deaf.  Or had long enough arms to reach into the backseat to cover his mouth---even if just for three seconds of silence.

So. Annoying.

Know what though?  I am no different.  My selfishness screams out just as annoyingly, but in different ways.

Stuff...."MINE!"
Time...."MINE!"
Money..."MINE!"
People..."MINE!"

In the same way I am annoyed by Everett's tantrums and shouts proclaiming everything under the sun as his,  I would think my Heavenly Father is pretty disappointed....to say the least...in my selfishness in thinking, well, everything under the sun is mine.

"The earth is the Lords, and everything in it"  1 Corinthians 10:26

Well, hello truth, there you are.

So many things fill my home and closets, but they don't fill my heart.  they are a temporary satisfaction--brought on by the adrenaline rush to buy new things.  Stuff doesn't satisfy, and it's not mine.  It's all just keeping me from my greater purpose of giving more and getting less.

In my own way, I try to be less of a "MINE" person by not being attached to stuff, being generous towards others and striving to live without clutter and over-abundance of the unnecessary things.  But then, I go to the store and see a top...or a book....or movie....or craft supplies....or shoes and all of a sudden, it come's again..."MINE!"

This roller coaster of selfishness.  Where does it come from and how on earth does it start in a one year old's brain?

We live in a world of stuff---we are bombarded by it and it may consume us.  While this stuff may be of the world---we are not.  We have a greater purpose while here and part of that is to be generous and live with giving hands outstretched to those all around us.

"Are you listening to this?  Really listening?  Listen carefully to what I am saying--and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells yo how to get ahead in the world on your won.  Giving, not getting, is the way.  Generosity begets generosity.  Stinginess impoverishes."  Mark 4:23-25 (The Message)

I LOVE to give.  Gift giving is so much fun for me and I love to put thought and creativity into gifts for others for birthdays, Christmas and random---ooohh, those are the best to give! But in the end,  I feel like I'm getting more satisfaction out of giving than the receiver is getting, and isn't that, well, selfish?

Can altruism be 100% pure, or are there itty bitty monsters of hedonism in our efforts of generosity? 

As humans and Christians, can we really live a life fully free of the "MINE!" syndrome or would that make us...Jesus?

Jesus, forgive me for filling my life more with material objects and things that don't matter than with you and your goodness.  Please daily remind me that I am a leader and my child is following in my footsteps--please help me to lead him to be more of a giver than a getter and display this very attitude in my own actions.  I want to be like you so very much.