Everything belongs to God

God created us out of the great love that He has and out of the great love that He is.

Genesis 1:26-28: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them…

When God deems that man shall rule over the fish, birds, and cattle, he is making us guardians of his creation. He is Creator and we are his creation, his creatures called to guard and protect his creation.

The earth, our lives, our children and family, our talents and jobs, our homes, resources and money, and our time all belong to God.

The earth belongs to God. As families, we can work at protecting the earth’s environment in small or big ways. Even little things such as recycling cans, bottles, paper and cardboard and conserving water and energy or using reusable shopping bags help take care of the earth.

Our life belongs to God. One of our primary tasks in life is to become the best person he has uniquely created us to be. It is in our “job description” to work on allowing the Holy Spirit to assist us in being transformed into that unique person because true transformation takes a lifetime. I teach a research based course to singles entitled “How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk/Jerkette,” and the author states that what makes a person a Jerk or Jerkette is “Persistent Resistance.” That is when we persistently resist working on what we know we have to work on, because each of us has our shortcomings that need to be transformed.

Our children and our family belong to God. We are given the great blessing to care for them, to discipline them, and to raise them in the faith. Perhaps I am keenly aware of what a great gift our daughter is to Mauri and me because we adopted her after 11 years of marriage. Being childless for that long, we yearned to have someone to share our love with. She belongs to God, but we have the blessing to enjoy, learn from and share our life with her.

In many ways, we are all adopted sons and daughters of God. Ephesians 1:3-6: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Our talents and our jobs belong to God. Whatever gifts God has given us are for his greater honor and glory. I admire music ministers because they share their talents and help us to worship God at Mass. Whatever type of job we have is a gift from God that allows us to feed, clothe, and provide a home for our family.

Our home, food, and money belong to God. I attended a workshop at our Family Ministry Conference several years ago entitled “Faith Finances” by a Catholic author who said, “Every morning I ask God: ‘What do you want me to do with your money today?’” A family I know prays over the food after returning from grocery shopping in thanksgiving to God for what he provides.

Our time belongs to God. “Chronos Time” is chronological time and “Kairos Time” is God’s time. Whether we overwork or “waste our time,” it is helpful to reflect on the fact that time is really a precious gift of God and only he knows how many years, months, days, and minutes we each have in our life.

May the Holy Spirit guide each of us to live this great gift of life for God’s greater honor and glory.

Lydia Pesina is the director of the Family Life Office