Mine

You don’t have to have a sibling to be selfish.

I didn’t have a sibling until I was 2 ½ years old. For quite a while, I didn’t have to share my toys. I didn’t have to share my parents. I didn’t have to share my room. Everything I had was mine. And mine alone. I remember when Katey was born, but I don’t remember if I had trouble learning how to share. But watching Emry, I’m thinking I probably did.

Emry has entered the stage of knowing that something belongs to her. She knows that the little fork in her hand is hers. And so she gets mad when I take it from her to help her stab her green bean. Emry knows which toothbrush is hers. And so she gets angry when I take it because five minutes is quite long enough to clean two small teeth. Emry also knows that almost every toy in this house is belongs to her. And so she cries when I start putting them away so we can go to bed.

You don’t have to have a sibling to be selfish.

Maybe it’s our sin nature of denying our sin nature is really that bad that we think an only child isn’t as selfish as the child with a sibling. After all, an only child doesn’t really have to share anything. And you’re not selfish if you’re not required to share, right? Sometimes you really have to laugh at the creative ways we can come up with denying our own sin! Because while Emry may not have to share her dollhouse, or her fish sticks, or her Easter eggs with anyone; not a day goes by (as late) when we’re not crying because we want something Mama says we can’t have or we’re done playing with.

You don’t have to have a sibling to be selfish.

Like us all, Emry is learning the hard way that not everything in her little realm is “mine”. Truthfully, nothing is “mine”. It might be in our care, but everything we have is a gift from God and belongs to Him. And as my not-quite-one-year-old learns this all important lesson, I am daily reminded of how I still need to learn this lesson. That I am innately selfish. And it is good to share.