What's mine is mine

At last I’ve got my car back. That is to say, it’s not quite my car. Well, to be quite honest, it’s not my car. I did not pay for it, it is not registered in my name and I didn’t earn it.

The car, named by me as “Flaming Arrow” or “Flame” for short was my husband’s company car. I got to drive it. So I got to regard it as my own. When my husband retired, we had planned to buy the car from the company. At the beginning of the month my husband retired. Since the car was not ours, we had to give it back until the pension money came through and we could pay for it.

I was so annoyed with the company. How could they be so mean! Did they realize how much inconvenience I was going through because they insisted that the car sat in their garage and nobody drove it?

Of course, it is still not my car. The money has come through and Brian has paid for it and at last I am allowed to drive it again. But it will not be registered in my name. It will never be mine.

How many things that are not ours do we regard as ours? I talk about the school where I work as “my school”. I have absolutely no ownership in it. What about “my country?”

They say possession is nine tenths of the law. What is it about possession that grabs us?

I talk about “my life.” It is not really mine. I did not make it, buy it or earn it although it may be registered in my name. It is a gift of God. My husband and my children are also gifts. So are all my talents and accomplishments. God can take them back at any time and no doubt I will then also accuse Him of being mean. I think this was the mistake of the tenants in the parable of the tenants. (Math 12). They thought the vineyard belonged to them and they could do what they liked with it, reap the profits, and when the owner sent servants to collect some of its fruits, they rebelled violently. They went to great lengths to hold on to what was never really theirs, greedily depriving the owner of what was due to him. They did not even respect the son, but did away with him so they could get on with their own selfish lives.

“Lord, please forgive me for regarding as mine what is rightfully yours and please help me to give you your due.”