“Where is Shelby?” Troy asked. “I haven’t seen him for half the day.”
“He’s in his bed, guarding a milk bone. He doesn’t want to eat it right now, but he’s afraid to leave it,” I told him.
We had given all three dogs a milk bone that morning and the other two dogs gobbled theirs down right away. Shelby (a terrier), however, wasn’t particularly interested in eating his, but he didn’t want either of the other dogs to get it. So he played the proverbial dog in the manger and stood guard over the bone for hours. He missed out on a lot of the things he enjoys such as following every step we take, napping at our feet and playing with the others. He stayed in the bedroom in self-imposed exile looking more and more unhappy each time I went into the room. Finally, I took pity on him and removed the bone from his bed and put it away. Shelby immediately jumped out of his bed, wagging his tail, obviously overjoyed to be free again. He romped through the house greeting the other dogs with delight. We all went for a walk and he was as happy as a newly-released prisoner.
As I watched his day of misery and saw how much of a problem an object could bring to his relatively simple life, I wondered how often we do this to ourselves. How much of a burden do we place on our spiritual well-being with the material goods in our lives? The possession of things and working to get more can occupy most of our time if we aren’t careful. Being free enough to do the things of our Heavenly Father will bring us much more profit and satisfaction and hopefully, eternal joy.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One