Psalm 24:1 reads: "The earth is the Lord's and all that is it, the world and those who live in it." Taken to heart, the statement might just transform the way we live.

Take the well-known problem of what a series of public service commercials once called "Tennessee Trash." No, the commercials did not have to do with Baptists and their strange ways! They focused on litter, all those soda cans and fast-food wrappers too often strewn along Tennessee's roads. We litter out of carelessness, hurry, maliciousness, or habit. I think something else may be in play as well. The land alongside the road feels annonymous to us, as if it belongs to no one we know. That being the case, we find it emotionally easy to litter. Imagine how our feelings might change if we made a habit of saying, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it," each time we felt tempted to toss some garbage out the car window.

The verse's second half does not let up on us: "and those who live in it." The scripture's claim bowls us over if taken seriously. Each boy, girl, woman and man is "the Lord's.'" When I see the face of a soldier, a disaster victim, a person displaced or endangered by war, or a hungry child on television, I see someone who belongs to God. What about the waitress, the busboy, the pharmacist, or the school-crossing guard I enounter each day? Each belongs to God.

When I deal with another person, I am dealing with someone who belongs to God. "You belong to God" might be a good, silent prayer to say each time we start to interact with others. We might deal more honestly, gently and even graciously with one another.

What about ourselves? Each of us belongs to God as well. Try reminding yourself this is so each morning as you stare into your mirror. I think most of us might change our eating and exercise habits, use of time, points of destination and other ongoing habits, if we aborbed and believed this single truth.

Psalm 24:1 is worth packing in one's spiritual development tool kit.