A few days ago I rounded the corner on the back porch and a very thin but VERY long snake was slithering its way across the deck.
After I jumped on the couch (which, in hindsight, was completely irrational because it was at least 20 feet away), I began passionately knocking on the window to get Tom’s attention. After what seemed like an hour, he came to the back door.
“Look to your right!!!!!”
“Oh, yeah. I saw him earlier today. He was underneath the house with me.”
I did not take that opportunity to suggest that in the future, if one finds a snake in one’s vicinity, one should share that information with all interested parties, but I thought it.
I wanted to share my current experience with him because I wanted him to fix it. My entryway to the house was strikingly close to Mr. Snake. (No pun intended).
Sharing.
Per Merriam-Webster, “to partake of, use, experience, occupy, or enjoy with others.”
WITH others.
Now, switch gears for a second.
Think about the last time you gave someone something.
If you gave it to them, it’s safe to infer that you possessed it, or owned it first. It was yours, and then you chose to give it away.
There is a difference between giving and sharing.
In the Lord’s Prayer, the first word of the prayer is “our.”
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to pray in a way that appears rarely in the Hebrew Bible.
He taught them to address God as “our father.”
Note, despite referencing God at other times as Father, or “My Father” – in this teaching prayer, he said, “our.”
Also, throughout the prayer, he does not make it about himself, but he makes it about all.
This stands in stark contrast to our natural tendency to look out for number one and to care primarily about ourselves rather than others. We live in a world that is focused on my, mine, and me. But Jesus teaches us to pray our, us, and we.
Whether it is Catholics or Orthodox, believers or nonbelievers, protestants or liberals or conservatives, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, God is not the father/parent of any ONE group of people, but the father/parent of ALL peoples.
When you pray, “Our Father” . . . remember . . .
We share. God isn’t a possession to give. We ALL share.
Grace and Peace,
Andrea