My wife Jane and I recently travelled to an historic site where we stayed overnight, toured the grounds and hunted for shark teeth at the Potomac River.  For those of you who don’t live near the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, you may be surprised to discover shark teeth are everywhere!  The bluffs lining the Potomac were once a part of the ocean floor where shark teeth came to rest and were covered with sediment. 

The water was rough and the tide was high, which left us with a paltry collection of one small shark tooth.  But it was a shark tooth, which I later displayed proudly alongside some of our other favorite fossils and seashells.

Now, in the spirit of a phrase attributed in American folklore to George Washington (who was very familiar with the Potomac), “I cannot tell a lie.”  We didn’t actually find the shark’s tooth.  As Jane was walking back to our car, and I had stayed behind to take some pictures, an elderly woman with a walking stick stopped her and handed her the tooth.  The woman said, “I decided I was going to give it to the first woman I saw.” 

I am still processing the biased perspective of the woman with the walking stick.  But I will put this aside in favor of a more important lesson. 

When we returned from our trip, I posted a picture of the shark tooth on Facebook, and conveniently left out the part about the walking stick lady.  No, this wasn’t a passive-aggressive move to write someone who dismissed me because I was a man out of the story.  Rather, it was because I didn’t want anyone to know someone had to give us the shark tooth.  It was more self-serving to allow others to think we, or more specifically “I” had found it!     

I am certain this is not the first time someone on Facebook has misled the public with a post that purposely left out clarifying information.  Since my omission involved a gift, I could not help but consider an intriguing spiritual connection.

The Bible tells us that all good gifts come from God.  James writes, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (1:17) Ponder this point for a moment.  Every material and spiritual thing can be attributed to God, the Creator.  Sometimes, humans, prompted by the Evil One, use the good things God has made for destructive purposes. But lovers of God, who seek His will, look for ways to use His creation for good.  Above this, the basic necessities of life, such as oxygen, food and sunlight, are provided for us every day.  Therefore, we celebrate “every good and perfect gift” which we receive from an omnipotent God, either as a part of His daily provision, or as man-made products created for a divine purpose and given in love.

I return now, to my shark tooth.  It is very human to take credit for something we received as a gift.  With this in mind, consider these suggestions when you are blessed:

Distinguish between “discovery” and “creation”.  Even if I had found my shark tooth, I could only say I had discovered one of millions of shark teeth that are imbedded in bluffs surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.  Personally, I love the process of discovery.  I am enthralled by space travel, archeology, genetics, neuroscience and geology.  I don’t understand everything I read about these and a number of other pursuits, but I am amazed by them.  I am also willing to honor the brilliant minds responsible for pulling back shrouds of mystery and revealing what has been hidden to mankind.  Yet, discovering what “is” cannot compare to creating what “is not”.  God made everything out of nothing, which means the thrill of human discovery is merely an affirmation of His perfect design.  In like manner, God doesn’t discover anything because He created the heaven and the earth and holds both in place.  Discovery should not “puff” us up, but instead, it should increase our sense of awe as we stand in the presence of our Creator. 

Show “gratitude”, not “attitude”.  Perhaps you have seen a joyous Christmas morning turn into a battlefield when a gift stirred up feelings of jealousy and greed in a child.  When we receive a gift, it is very human to focus on what we have and ignore how we might bless others with what we have received.  Even as adults, we quickly move into possession mode and establish our territory to keep others away from our good fortune.  Perhaps, after our gift becomes worn, or we lose interest we might be more willing to loosen our grip.  In contrast, when God made His covenant with Abraham, He said, ““I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). This is the perspective of the servant who knows he would have nothing were it not for a good and gracious God.  He or she asks, “Why did God bless me, and how does He want me to bless others?”  Perhaps this is why the woman with the walking stick gave my wife her shark tooth.  She knew her small gift would be a blessing to someone, and believed she had been put in a position to share what she had received.  Never mind that she only wanted to share with the “first woman” she saw (Not that I am still processing her thought process). 

Finally, choose to “celebrate”, not “relegate” your gift.  There is nothing wrong with celebrating our shark tooth online!  Shark teeth are cool, especially when you find them in places where sharks no longer swim, and when you realize they are of ancient origin.  As long as we remember the source of our gifts and don’t allow them to nurture greed in our lives, we should give ourselves the freedom to rejoice.  Of course, celebrating our blessings requires some wisdom.  It may not be appropriate to share how we have been blessed financially with a friend who is facing bankruptcy; unless in our next sentence we offer him a gift to help him with his struggle.  This is one of the subtle risks in social media; that we would unwittingly crush the spirits of someone who needs to be uplifted by highlighting a material blessing.  The line between boasting and celebrating can be a fine one.  On the other hand, there is something to be said for freely testifying of the goodness of God and not feeling as though we need to hide our feelings of joy.

With all of this said, I hereby repent of my use of the walking stick lady’s gift to puff up my ego, and my failure to demonstrate the right kind of joy.  While I think I will hang on to my shark tooth for a while, I also believe, should I find my own shark tooth on my next visit to the Potomac I will look for the first person born in Kentucky to give it to. 

Just kidding.  I will seek God’s direction and go from there.  Who knows who He may bring across my path and why.