It's ALL for rent

-     For Rent -

Tim Connor

Think you own a home? A car? Lots of stuff? Your clothes?  Think about it – you own nothing you just have the privilege or temporary use of all of this stuff.  Sooner or later your home will be owned by someone else.  Your car – well either someone else will buy it or it will head to the junk yard. You see, ownership is a myth.  Yes, you have a deed or you may have paid off your mortgage but all we do is occupy and use things for a very short time until they either die, get trashed or someone else owns it.

My previous house that I owned (occupied for 20 years) so far has had five owners and it’s only been around for fifty years imagine if it’s still standing in another fifty years how many other owners it will have had.  Or should I say occupants.

There is also another way to look as this simple “rental” philosophy.  You are just renting your body for a few short years and then it’s “dust to dust”.

Why is it that people get so attached to things that are just temporary?  Is it insecurity or ego? Or, is there something else going on? Well consider;

Nothing lasts forever – don’t believe me come back to earth for a temporary visit in say - one hundred years after you have passed on and I’ll wager that very little will be the same.  I’m not being negative here just asking you to consider your attachment to things that you think you own that you are just renting or using for a short time.

I’m not in any way suggesting that you shouldn’t buy or own things and that you should rent or lease everything just that when you consider it, no matter what your arrangement you still just use it for a while until you trade it in, sell it or trash it.

In a great book by Ortberg called – It’s All Going Back In The Box (I recommend you read it regardless of your opinion of what I am saying in this article) he puts it all into perspective – when you leave here everything – yes everything goes back in the box.  I won’t belabor his approach – just read the book, but his approach is very similar to what I am presenting here – that ownership – your position, business, career, relationships – whatever – are all temporary and can change in a heartbeat.

Don’t believe me? I’ll bet you know someone who has lost a job, lost a business, lost a loved one, lost a home or car or lost their own life.  It happens millions of times every day and has for centuries and the rules haven’t changed – we rent everything.

So, consider – your attachments to stuff.  There is only one thing that is permanent and eternal and that’s where we go after we leave here.  I’ll leave you with a question to ponder – is your attachment to stuff here possibly getting in the way of where you will go after you leave here?

"The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity."

Mark Twain