The movie, "Little Nemo," has a scene where a bunch of seagulls are screaming "MINE, MINE, MINE," while they are trying to catch a crab named Sebastian. It reminds me of the emotional maturity of a two year old who screams the same thing when he doesn't want to share his toy. The first time they say "mine" the parents are caught off guard and may laugh. The second, third, and many more times later, the parents think it's not cute anymore. Parent's usually try to discipline that selfish attitude out of their child in hopes they will grow up and learn to share.
Fast forward.
Now that 2 year old is an adult. Their selfish behaviors are less tolerated, less enjoyable, and they share even less. People won't put up with selfishness very long and if your selfish behaviors are causing havoc in your family, your loved ones will only stand for it for so long.
Then the push back comes.
It can come in the form of eyes rolling, grumpy attitudes, yelling, pushing, and fighting. The ultimate push back is physical abuse and it can even result in someone going to the hospital or the morgue.
What is the solution to dealing with someone with selfish intent? First of all you have to recognize selfishness for what it is: selfish. We want what we want when we want it. Yep, we...WE all are selfish at times. We want the sun to shine on cloudy days, we want our partner to get a raise from their employer, we want our children to behave, we want an expensive car, and we want a house on a hill overlooking the ocean. Oh, wait, that's my want. Your wants may be similar but we all want something that we don't have be it money we didn't earn or even the love of a person who we wish we could have.
Unfortunately, or fortunately if you look at it through God's eyes, we all want and it's a part of our humanity to desire more. There is a saying, "There is nothing new under the sun." It means that everything that is has been done before. When comparing things of today with things from the Bible, it can sound very similar indeed:
Godlessness in the Last Days
"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men."
2 Timothy 3:1-9
So, let's learn from our past, create a new present, and live moving toward a peaceful future. Bless everyone who has suffered the challenges, changes, and consequences of Covid-19, lived through the Spring and Summer of 2020, and together let us pray for a better season to follow.