Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
“To receive what we have as a gift from God is the first inner attitude of simplicity. We work but we know that it is not our work that gives us what we have. We live by grace even when it comes to “daily bread.” We are dependent upon God for the simplest elements of life: air, water, sun. What we have is not the result of our labor, but of the gracious care of God. When we are tempted to think that what we own is the result of our personal efforts, it takes only a little drought or a small accident to show us once again how utterly dependent we are for everything.”
Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (New York: HarperCollins, 1998) 88.
Ownership and entitlement thinking destroys people and communities. Everything that comes to us is a gift. It’s not the result of our labor. Even the ability to produce income or wealth is a gift from God.
We are living in challenging times when people are fighting over what they think they deserve and trying to preserve what they think they own. Find freedom. Take a walk. Look up at the sun. Give thanks for the air you breathe.
COVID-19 has revealed our many sins, not the least of which is ownership and entitlement thinking. As the lockdown loosens in places, help us not forget that everything we have comes from our gracious God.
Gracious God, help us treat everything that comes to us as a gift so that we are free from anxiety and so that we can be open-handed and generous at all times and all occasions. Hear our prayer in your mercy. Amen.