“Possession is nine-tenths of the law is an expression meaning that ownership is easier to maintain if one has possession of something, and much more difficult to enforce if one does not” (Wikipedia). When my parents retired after having lived in parsonages during their working lives, they needed a place to stay after retirement. A home available for retired ministers was vacant at the time in Bradenton. My parents expressed interest in it and obtained a key to inspect it. They received word that the decision had been made to let them live there, though it would be several months before my parents’ schedule allowed them to move in. A minister friend of my parents encouraged them immediately to lay claim to living in the house by putting something personal in it even if a small piece of furniture. This my parents did, and they did get the house to stay in for as long as they wanted it. Laying claim is true not only of property, but also of belief. Self-confidence arises from laying claim to self-assurance by acting as if it were true. Likewise, belief in the supreme efficacy of the disciplines of love is much easier to hold if one personally invests in the concept through action. Without this investment, it is easier for the position to become debatable and conflicted in one’s mind. Prejudice the case for favorable causes by making personal commitments, even if that means for the moment taking smaller largely symbolic steps of action.
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