When I was 15 years old in high school, my parents, in desperation, promised me a gold ring if I passed the 11th grade with a first class. That was just the incentive I needed because I did get that first class. And the gold ring became my prized possession for about 9 years. One day, when we were on the beach in Mumbai, having a good time with some friends, while playing around in the water, I felt the ring slip off my finger. I desperately tried to catch the ring but it fell to the bottom. I saw it through a foot of water and stomped my foot at the spot where it had fallen. I could actually feel the ring underfoot. I could also feel the wave pulling strongly at it. To my horror, I could feel the sand underneath give way. When the wave had gone, I plunged my hand into the sand, desperately searching for the ring, but there was no sign of it. The next wave then came in and I knew that it was a lost cause.
I remember that incident today and realized that there are actually life lessons to be learnt from that. Three things come to mind.
1. There is a right place for everything. The right place for that ring was on my finger. Nowhere else.
2. If something is out of its place, even if it belongs to you, it's fair game for everything or everyone else. The ring should have been on my finger, it was on the ground. It belonged to me, but it was fair game for the elements as well.
3. What is yours but out of place can be lost even if you are connected to it. The ring was mine; I was still connected to it. I had my foot on it. But it was not in its place. It was not meant to be under my foot, and I lost it.
I looked at those three points and I thought that those were life lessons for me and, as I share it with you, probably for you as well. We can take these principles and apply it in our world. How?
First, there's a right place for everything. The things that are given to us belong to us but need to be used in the right place. I think that if they are not used in the right place, then we may end up losing them. Take authority, for example. Authority is given to you and to me to be used in the right place. But, so often we allow that authority to be used in the wrong places. Sometimes we take the authority that is to be used in the office into our homes. And the results can be catastrophic. We use authority that should be used in a particular situation or department in another department. And again, the results are far from what we want to end up with.
Second, if it's out of place, even if it belongs to you, it's fair game for everything or everyone else. Take your salary, for example. Or the perks that come with the job. It should go back to the family. It should go back to making sure that you are sustaining your family, your children's education, putting aside for a home – all the things that are important for a good life. But, what if that remuneration found itself to a bar where there is excessive drinking, or a gambling place? It's out of place. It still belongs to you, but suddenly it's fair game for everyone else. It belongs to you. It's yours. But it's in the wrong place and there are other forces that now begin to work on it. Even though it's yours, it is out of place and the other forces will try and take it from you.
Third, what is yours but out of place, can be lost even if you are connected to it. Take our loved ones, our children or spouses, for example. Sometimes we are still connected to them via a phone that we have or have given to them, or some other thing. We trust that it will take care of everything even at the expense of spending quality time with them, at the expense of an evening game with them, or just going out for a cup of coffee. The ring was connected to my foot, but it was out of place and I lost it. it's so important to make sure that the connection is good for the things that we have. And more importantly, that it is the right connection that we have with our loved ones, our spouses, our family and our children. The reality is that if our connection is fleeting, like my foot on the ring, there's a good chance that we may lose it.
God gives us wonderful gifts, my dear friends, and He gives it to us so that we can optimize it to enhance us. I wonder whether we need to ask the question of those gifts, whether we are indeed using them well. Lorraine Pirihi said, "Nothing changes if nothing changes." And maybe you've been reading this article and thinking of changes that ought to happen to bring your life back on even keel. My prayer is that if it needs to happen, then you and I will have what it takes to make that change happen.
May I pray with you. Almighty God, You are the giver of all good gifts to us. That is what Your word tells us. You bless us with so many good things. Help us to make sure that we place these things in the right place, that we use them in the right place, that they are not out of place, they're not being given away to others, that we are so shallow with our connections that there is a chance that we will lose them. Give us discernment to look at the things that we have and then make right decisions about them. I pray a blessing on each one reading this post. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
References
Quotations - "Possession is not the same as Ownership" - Dr. Cecil Clements - Quote link on Pinterest
Very impressed
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