I have been sitting out in the workshop this morning writing blog posts. (Hubby and I built a small media/exercise room in the workshop last December, and it is a lovely place to work.)
As I’m sitting here, I can hear a small creature pattering just on the other side of the wall. It’s probably a mouse. The mice seem to think the workshop belongs to them! It sounds like the mouse is scampering among the storage tubs just on the other side of the wall.
Oh … there it goes pattering across the top of our little media room.
Oh … no, I was wrong … it might have been a squirrel! Just outside the open window a squirrel is now chattering and carrying on with a loud noisy racket! I’m sure it is probably letting all the forest know that this space belongs to it!
Speaking of the open window … I opened the window to allow the nice cool morning breeze to drift in. But … drifting in along with the nice cool morning breeze has been the scent of animal. Clearly some large forest resident has been going around marking its territory with scent! It is letting all the forest know that this property, this territory, belongs to it!
But wait a minute … this property, this forest territory, it belongs to hubby and me. We are the ones paying the mortgage. We are the ones responsible for caring for the land.
But then again … the fact that we are paying the mortgage begs the question: “Then doesn’t that mean the bank is the actual owner of this property??”
The mice do not own the workshop. Even though they act like it belongs to them!
The squirrel does not own the workshop either. Even though it loudly broadcasts to the entire forest that this space belongs to it!
The bear, or coyote, or cougar does not own this forest property. Even though it has been going around marking this territory with its scent!
And to be honest, hubby and I don’t truly own this territory either. Sure, we are responsible for the mortgage, the care of the forest, and the upkeep … but ultimately this land belongs to God!
This fact that all the earth belongs to God was really driven home to me recently!
Hubby and I, and our two kids, had traveled to the other side of the globe.
As we drove through vast open expanses, the landscape looked exactly like the vast open expanses of Wyoming and Montana. Wait a minute … those vast open expanses of Wyoming and Montana are in my country. I was surprised at the sense of “ownership” I suddenly found myself feeling over that type of landscape.
But these vast open expanses (which looked exactly like my vast open expanses in my country) were not in my country at all! In fact, they were on the complete opposite side of the globe! Way up in the North Atlantic! On a tiny unassuming island near the Arctic Circle.
These vast open expanses weren’t mine after all. Anymore than the workshop belongs to the mice, or the squirrel.
We drove through landscape blanketed thickly in black basalt, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. It looked just like my country … it looked just like central Oregon!
But it wasn’t my country. This blanketed black basalt landscape wasn’t mine after all. It belongs to a tiny unassuming island on the opposite side of world!
We stopped at a black-sand beach and marveled at vertical basalt columns! It looked just like my country! Those light-grey vertical basalt columns look just like my state … those basalt columns are in central Washington!
But those weren’t my vertical basalt columns. This wasn’t my state … or my country.
We marveled at piles of black basalt tumbling down to meet the ocean … it looked just like Hawaii!
But this black basalt meeting the ocean wasn’t my Hawaii or my country at all. It belongs to a completely different nation … a completely different people group.
I gazed in awe at steep mountains, clearly marked with horizontal striation lines from glaciers. It looked like Glacier National Park!
We explored geo-thermal areas. It looked just like Yellowstone National Park! The smell of sulfur … the heat from bubbling mud pits … shooting geysers …
But this wasn’t my country … or my mountains. These weren’t my bubbling mud pits … these weren’t my shooting geysers. These mountains belong to these people here. These geo-thermal areas belong to this country … on this complete opposite side of the globe from me.
All of this planet belongs to God! It’s all His!
The vast open expanses … those belong to God … no matter where they are on this great big planet Earth! He made those! Those are His! He is the owner!
The landscape blanketed thickly in black basalt, stretching as far as the eye can see in every direction … that belongs to God! He made that … no matter where it is! He is the owner!
The vertical basalt columns … the piles of black basalt tumbling down to meet the ocean … those belong to God! In every distant far-flung corner of this planet. All of that is His!
The steep mountains, clearly marked with horizontal striation lines from glaciers … God made those mountains … God made those glaciers … God did that! The bubbling mud pits … the shooting geysers … no matter where on this planet … those are His! He is the owner!
Even my forest property … with the presumptuous mice … the loud-voiced squirrel … and the territory-marking bear, coyote, bobcat … God owns this property! God made this forest! It’s His!
It’s all His! Every square inch of our gloriously beautiful, amazing planet!
Thank you God for this amazingly beautiful planet You have created and given us to enjoy!
