It is easy to fall into thinking that we are great and powerful beings, and consider ourselves as God-chosen when things go well, magnanimously sharing our gifts with our friends, donating to charities, supporting causes, and feeling the righteousness of our grand gestures. We all do it, to one extent or another—David too. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.¹

It then occurs to David that all he is giving to God has been God's all along. There is nothing on earth, including the earth itself that is not God's, and we mortals are merely passing through. It is a sobering thought, a reminder of what is important. We are all sojourners, travellers through God's land, to enjoy it's beauty, and equally to sustain it's beauty for those that follow after us. It's such a simple thing, and yet it proves so difficult in practice. If we saw ourselves, our days on earth as shadows, we may move a little more lightly, leave less of a footprint. It's an aspiration, at least.

¹ 1 Chronicles 29:2