The following are are stories of abundance … out of scarcity.
We live in a world with the mindset of scarcity. It’s in our
language… we say if I have enough time …if I have enough
energy… if I have enough money. We live in a culture of
wealth, but the mindset around us is scarcity and fear.
When I was a young girl our family lost our home through a
house fire at Christmas. Instead of remembering a sad or
scary memory, mine is a memory of abundance. All our
family friends came together and showered us with love. We
were provided with a home for six months so we could
remain at the same school. Friends gave us housewares and
clothes to replenish what we lost. People opened their homes
and gave us a place to stay until our temporary home was
readyIt was an adventure. Goodness and generosity of our
friends and joy and abundance are what I remember.
I get to experience this same joy when I give out of a sense of
abundance to others. As wonderful as it was to receive help
when our home burned, it is even more rewarding to give
with an open heart to others. This is the paradox of
generosity, it brings an abundance of happiness to the one
who gives and when the person who receives is open to the
gift and grateful, the abundance is multiplied. It can be
challenging to receive a gift which can not be reciprocated.
Some people feel ashamed or guilty and do not want to
receive it. A sense of gratitude lives on and on in both
people’s hearts.
In each time of scarcity in my life, others moved to help with
generosity. It fills me with joy… so that I too want to comfort
others with the comfort that I have received.
We get to live generously in a world of fear and busyness and
scarcity. We are freed from the mindset of scarcity when we
respond with abundance.
This advent season, look at the people in you life and
consider how you can be generous with time, words of
encouragement, acts of service or gifts. It will fill you with
abundance in a world with a mindset of scarcity. If you’d
like to talk to me about how you can live with more
abundance, contact me.