Getting Ahead: ‘Yours, mine and ours’

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A child will snatch a toy from another child and proclaim; “That’s mine!” It is then that we try to teach them to share their toys with one another. We work very hard to get them to interact with others in a spirit of good will. We do not have to teach them to grab at what might or might not be theirs.

They are born with the nature of wanting everything for themselves. This tendency is something that we will deal with all of our lives. I recently heard a government official refer to the Military of the United States “his” military. It is his, yours, and mine. It is our military. It exists because many men and women have given their life to and for it. It is funded by the citizens of this great country as they pay taxes.

If we are married, everything that we possess belongs to both the husband and wife. It belongs to us, not to me. The streets of our cities and towns where we live belong to us not to me. Most things we enjoy are things that many have worked together to make possible. The things that are yours or mine will never be as significant as the things that are ours.

There are those things we take ownership of which can destroy us. I repeatedly hear people talk about their arthritis or even worse, their cancer. I know what they mean, but do we really want to take ownership of a disease? Is it something that we have chosen to possess? Is it something we want to keep? Why not proclaim: “I’m fighting against arthritis or I’m fighting against cancer?”

Could taking ownership of things that others have helped us accomplish be as bad as taking ownership of a disease which we, in most cases, did not create? What is truly happening when a child tears that toy away from a playmate and shouts: “That’s mine!”

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.

https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/08/pfeifer-mug-B-W-1-1-1.pdf

By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Writer

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