Every generation grasps its wealth,
convinced that what’s possessed
not only has been obtained by fair means
but done according to divine desire.
Recall what the psalmist declared (24:1)
“The earth is the Lord’s
and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it...”
Original distribution, then,
took place between the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil – Eden was its name.
Ever since Cain’s possessiveness emerged,
we’ve redistributed what belongs to God,
as if it were ours alone to keep or give;
warring madness, the ultimate distribution struggle.
How long, O Lord, before
we realize again for the first time
that the measure of our success
is not what’s won, lost, amassed,
but how we hold onto one another
with strong, tender, open hands;
how we feed our neighbors by
the long-handled spoon of grace?
© 2012 Todd Jenkins
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