Life Is Not About What You Own, It's About What Owns You

Kennet Silva- San Pedro Sula, Honduras 

    

      Ownership is around us everyday. Everything that you can see is owned by a natural person or legal person. Owning things these days consumes our societies. I'm not opposed to owning things, but what is inspiring me to write this for you is this question: what owns you?

     These years living in Guatemala, Central America, made me get disconnected from common society. Where we lived is like going back in time, you just have exactly what you just need, many times even less. Water and electricity were constantly playing hide-and-seek with us. Now we are living in the second largest city in Honduras, and I can sense God teaching me that life is not about what you own, it's about what owns you.

     A few days ago a person told me that an old friend of ours bought a fancy apartment and a new truck. My natural response surprised me because normally, years ago, I would like to see him again just to see what he purchased. But now I felt disconnected from that feeling, and he is just going to stay as an old friend. By saying this, it is that his ownership, his possession, would not attract me to him.

     Another example is that a friend of mine and my wife recently received a local award, so she has been in social media and the newspapers. We have been trying to meet with her and her family for weeks before this, but we haven't had the chance. Now, I told my wife that is not a good idea to go visit them right now as I don't want to give the impression that their ownership is attracting us to them.

     As a last example, in 2015 I won a "Young Entrepreneur" award from the President of Honduras for my Solar Bakpak. During this time, a lot of people got attracted to me for my accomplishment, which showed me that were attracted to success and appearance.  

     It may sound complex, but when you are outside the box or as some people say outside the "bubble" for so long, you start seeing things differently. You see the corners and shadows of situations that look normal, but inside they are really profound. 

   

     What owns you?

     Do you own your things or do they own you? Do you own your new car because you need it or because your neighbor just got one?

     We can ask these question for anything and everything: do you go to church because you feel obligated to go or because God owns you? 

     Right now, I'm helping my family get back on their feet in business. I need to ask myself these questions: am I doing this for the money or am I doing it so they can have enough to pay rent, school, electricity and water. I can say that I'm doing it not for the money (as I earn more in other businesses outside of selling textiles) but I do it so that peace owns them.

     You will reflect what really owns you, just like water reflects light. 

     If you are a person that has everything but you don't have peace, you're not owned by peace, you're owned by ___(fill in the blank)___.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

     I pray, God, in Jesus' name, that you will give us peace, I thank you for peace in our hearts; let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Let us be the vessels that reflect your peace to others.

Amen.