Sheba joined our family when our son, Kevin, was thirteen.  He contributed half of the money to buy her and, for him,  it was a very high price—it was all he had.  The deal was that Kevin would take care of Sheba but, as often seems to  happen, he mostly just played with her and Mom (that would be me) did all the work.  Then Kevin grew up—went off to college, graduated, moved into an apartment, got a job—and there was no room for Sheba, so she stayed at home.  Oh, Kevin still loved her—called her his dog, played with her when he came home; but one day he told me that Sheba loved me more than she did him—yes, she was always glad to see him, but she followed me around constantly, seldom letting me out of her sight.  Why is that?  It’s because Sheba was now my dog—Kevin never paid the full price for her but I did.  I met all of her needs—I fed her, bathed her, walked her, took her to the vet, scratched her favorite spots, played with her—I was always there for her—every day—and Kevin wasn’t.

To whom do I belong?  To my husband?  To my son?  To my parents?  To my extended family?  To my friends?  Each has paid a high price for me in terms of time, money, self-sacrifice, love; each has given all they know how to give—all they can afford.  And each one shares a part of me, just as Kevin shared a part of Sheba.  But I belong wholly to the only person who supplies all of my needs; the only one who loves me unconditionally, who never fails me; I belong to God.  Heart and soul, mind and body, in work or play or worship, in joy or in pain—in total, I belong to God because he is the only one who has paid the full price of ownership—on the cross—and he can be counted on to be there every time I call on him.  Now and forever; loving and accepting; always with me; always patient and kind when I stumble and fall and make mistakes.

Like Sheba constantly keeping me in her line of sight, I must always focus my vision on God.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t love and appreciate all of the others in my life—my husband, son, grandson, parents, family, and friends—but none of them, alone or in unison, can do what God has done all by himself because;

…when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”  (Hebrews 10:12)

 You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a)