Turf Wars

Baxter loves to look outside at the other critters with whom he shares this world. He is fascinated by birds and rabbits. He follows their movements with charged attention. He sees bugs as toys. He loves to reach for them and try to grab them in his paw. Then he may release them and bat them around. If they don’t get away, they usually get eaten. Baxter is not a vegetarian.

However, there is one of God’s creatures whom Baxter refuses to engage in any way except angrily. Another cat! Baxter will not abide a fellow feline on or near his turf. At best, he will have a stare down contest with the invader until they back away and leave the premises. At worst, he gets into a hissing, clawing, spitting fit, all intended to get the visitor to scoot in as quick and cowardly a fashion as possible. Baxter will have no one of his species sharing his territory. He claims sole proprietorship, and any other cat is not just unwelcomed, but thrown out in no uncertain terms. Baxter is very possessive of his sphere of influence.

Sometimes we are as well. We won’t let anyone else in or near what we consider our area of responsibility and expertise. We see them as a threat to what we do and who we are. We have the knowledge and experience, and therefore, the right to call the shots and do the job. We have been around a long time, and we don’t need any advice or assistance, unless we ask for it specifically. We are the champions of the cause, and we have notched up the successes of the past. We know best. What’s wrong with doing it our way?

It’s not God’s way. God is not an autocrat dishing out directions and marking off boundaries that no one dares to counter or cross. Sure, He has rules to guide our lives, and do’s and don’ts to follow. But they are for our own good, so that we are fair and respectful towards each other and learn how to build a better world, not to make God look good. God looks at us and sees what we can be, and He sets a place for us to live and work with others to become the persons God intended. That means we have to share our space and cooperate with others to do God’s work.

Our personal successes are not what will account for our lives before God, but how others’ lives were made better for our service to them and with them. “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Christ is disguised in others when they cross over into our lives.

Baxter is excused for his possessiveness and territoriality. He can’t help himself. It is built into his instincts. We have no excuse. God made us to be open to His grace by serving one another, by sharing our time, talent and treasure with them, by allowing them to claim a space in our world. It’s not mine or yours but ours. It is not my way or your way but God’s way through us. When we learn these lessons, God’s work begins to become our own.