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“The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; Yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
–– Psalm 16:5-6 (King James Version)
“You got a train set, Todd!” Have you seen the commercial for Chewy pet products? The setting is the lofty oak-paneled office of a highly successful estate attorney. She is presiding over the reading of a will filed by a recently deceased corporate titan. The lawyer's audience includes three brooding, but not grieving, adult children and a cat named Marbles. Ironically, it’s the children who display more anxiety than a cat on a hot tin roof while Marbles is just chillin’ in a tastefully upholstered office chair, his paw resting easily on a throw pillow. With calm manner and voice the attorney shares the news: the daughter gets the company, Todd gets the model train set, the unnamed third child is not mentioned, and Marbles receives recurring deliveries for all his needs in perpetuity thanks to auto ship from Chewy … and the summer house at the beach. So, while Marbles is rinsing the sand off his paws in the outdoor shower at the coast, the kids will probably not be showing up for a shrimp boil.
Dorothy Sayers wrote that, “There is something about wills which brings out the worst side of human nature. People who under ordinary circumstances are perfectly upright and amiable, go as curly as corkscrews and foam at the mouth, whenever they hear the words 'I devise and bequeath.’” Relationships fray and civility evaporates whenever and wherever getting what we assume we deserve takes up more head space than finding the blessings in what we have.
When the Israelites settled in the promised land, the territory was apportioned and the boundary lines established for the tribes and clans. Borrowing from that imagery, the Psalmist shifts the paradigm of inheritance from entitlement to gratitude, from claims of ownership to a celebration of grace given. “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot.” The Psalmist’s heart is not set on what he has yet to acquire, but on the abundance of what God has already bequeathed to him in the richness of life itself and love undeserved. Thoreau famously said, “I make myself rich by making my wants few.” It’s not as much about simplicity as it is about simply appreciating the fulness of life experienced in the love of God and each other.
“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.” I read that sentiment and feel a sense of peace envelop me, understanding that I can look out upon the contours and horizons of my life and identify a multitude of graces received, yet seldom deserved. May our lives become a thank you note to God.
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