toys.

“and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” Acts 2:45

If we had the opportunity to spend one more day back in preschool, many of us would. Brightly colored wallpaper, nap time, endless toys, no worries, innocent and unbiased friendships, a teacher to watch over us all as we played together. Fond memories usually accompany those days, as well as recollections of lessons learned. Some differ depending on the child, yet there are some that were universal for all of us. Use your inside voice, be nice, don't eat glue, and share your toys.

Life was so simple then. Within the rainbow colored walls and playgrounds, it was a lot easier to get along with one another. If there was an argument, it was quickly resolved, usually under the guidance of a kind, sweet preschool teacher.

Many of us can also recall what the majority of these little conflicts centered around. No one wanted to share their toys. Once it was in your hand, it was yours... and yours alone.

Reflecting on this now, it is clear that some things never change. Our money is ours, our cars are ours, as well as our homes or any other item with any value at all. We live in houses with extra bedrooms, while someone else is sleeping on the sidewalk at the end of our street. We have cupboards overflowing with food, while our neighbor is struggling to make ends meet. We go on vacations while others are starving to death and spiritually dying. Now, none of those these things in of themselves are bad. Not at all. However, how often do we offer them up to the Lord, and ask what He would want us to do with them?

I know that I don't do it enough. There are people in need all around me, and my first thought isn't always to ask God what He would have me do to help. It;s not that I don't want to serve them, I am sometimes just too focused on my own wants to think about their needs.

However, none of my possessions are even my own. I believe the early Church also understood that. Everything we we have belongs to God, just as every toy we selfishly claimed in preschool ultimately belonged to the teacher or the place she worked for. When I am reminded of this, I am humbled to a point in which I cannot help but look to satisfy the needs of others with what I have been given.

Overall, the world would be far better of if we, as the Church, would learn to share our toys.

Matthew 25:45

“Then [Jesus] will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'”

July 21, 2011