From "Thoughts and Testimonies, Booklet 1" (Part 4)

Here is the next section of a booklet I wrote in 2010. God bless.

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THE earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 

Psalm 24:1

     Lately, I've been thinking about ownership. For instance, my dog-MY dog-has melanoma. In the weeks preceding his tumor removal surgery, I fed my dog flax oil, ground flax seeds, organic cottage cheese and organic yogurt. I hoped the diet would help shrink the tumors and/or give him energy to survive the surgery. He is, after all, thirteen human years old. One of his veterinarians told my brother and me that the average life span for a dog his size is twelve human years old. He beat the average, but he's not getting any younger. Also, the vet who did the surgery didn't remove all the tumors, only the ones that caused the most concern. And I've spotted more tumors on my dog since the surgery. I'm reluctant about resuming the flax/cottage cheese/yogurt diet for my dog, though, because it might cause other health problems. 

     As I've thought more and more about ownership, it's occurred to me that I didn't make my dog. I may give him food and water (that I also didn't make), but I haven't been the sustainer of his life. I didn't give him life. 

     Taking things in another direction, I've also been thinking about people I've seen on cable news reports screaming or holding up signs saying, "We're taking back our country!" I've wondered if the U.S. really is our country. God blesses many people to be residents and caretakers of this nation just as He blesses people to be residents and caretakers of other nations and just as He blessed people when our one country was actually many nations, None of us made a single blade of grass, a single grain of sand, a single rock or a single water drop. Who owns this country or any other? "THE earth is the LORD'S .... " 

     I believe I'd mistaken stewardship for ownership for many years. I now know that my dog is not "my" dog. The Lord Who made him owns him. My country is not "my" country. The Lord Who made it owns it. My parents are not “my" parents and I am not even “mine”. The Lord Who made us owns us. “THE earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Amen.