Value

So often in life we treat things, acquire them and dispose of them as though they were ours. James reminds us that everything we do and all that we have not only comes from above, but is all a gift.

Our time, energy, love, compassion and generosity are all found firstly in God and it is thanks to Jesus that we have an idea of what love truly looks like. It can be tempting to treat things and even people as though we had ownership of them, or as if once they serve our need they are redundant to us. We tread on dangerous ground when we begin to treat people like things, and things like people.

All things come from God, even those things which we think we have produced and therefore assume we own. If we believe that to be true, we should treat all things as precious and people even more so – for they are God’s gifts to us and the world.

Gracious God, help me to see all things as coming from you, and to live with rejoicing in your care for creation.

Amen.