Sharing

    When my son gained a sibling, my wife and I were anticipating a struggle with sharing of toys, attention and the like.  We were pleasantly surprised he was willing to share with his sister most of the time.  His sister however was very different.  Half his size, age and strength, she has no fear to take and do it in a cunning, mischievous way.  This surprised us and as much as my wife and I trade jabs of “she learned that from you”, in the end she was born with it.

    The same can be said of the modern professional as well.  After a recession, increase of competition from abroad and evolution of technology, the way careers are engineered have drastically changed.  Loyalty and honor seemed to be valued greatly in my grandparent’s generation as companies and employees kept their word, grew slowly and intentionally with competition between companies.  Now the most important corporation is “you”.  One must distance themselves from their peers to portray the idea they are valuable.  Whether it is a credential, degree, master’s degree, prefixes or the like, each are heavily sought after whether they add value or not.  “They make me more valued”, we tell ourselves and give our money and most precious resource (time) to achieve these standings without questioning motives of the ambition.  Ultimately the pursuit of excellence disconnected from an awareness of brokenness ceases to be excellent.

    This has a profound economic impact.  It also has a profound theological impact as well.  As we are either immersed in this culture, adhere to it or struggle with it daily, we read passages like Phil. 2:1-11 and cannot fully understand “emptying ourselves.”  “Sure”, we explain to ourselves, “Jesus was the Son of God, a perfect man and of course He give it all for me which I am thankful”, but stop short of a philosophical break-through in this passage.  We execute generosity in shallow levels, keeping it from affecting our identity and controlling it to the realm of emotions—mostly pity.

    The very answer to who you are is tied directly to sharing, which is why it occurs in toddlers and adults.  A human is created by God and given life.  Upon life, this creature can then be given abilities, character traits, talents, gifts, good looks and whatever else is valued in the economic system the being exists.  Now here is the real kicker: time, the breath of life and talents are a gift.  Which helps us understand what we are supposed to do with it.  No one except the modern, westerner ever thinks of getting themselves a “gift”.  One hears this in advertisements repeatedly of “give yourself a gift”, but this is more of a ploy by marketing psychologists than anything.  A gift is given to share with another being, whether it be close or far. 

    Therefore everything possessed must be shared.  Everything.  If one ceases to share one thing—just one thing—this thing becomes something it was never created to be.  It will begin to latch hold of the heart, then the mind, then it will start manifesting itself through the greatest resources: time.  God has not given us all things in order to accumulate them, but to share as we did not create them to begin with.  When one lives in this understanding, one can fully know who they are and rest in that fact.  So where are you in this matter?  Do you see all things as a gift or expected because of your greatness?  Hold nothing back from anyone, not even your favorite pen and you will begin to see who you really are.