Sharing Abundance is Good for Everyone

The other day I had a fun time with one of my nieces helping her to get ready to teach in Thailand. She had just come back from a trip to Peru where she was helping out on a mission project and had given away a lot of her clothes while there. She met many people who had so little, that even as a “starving” student, she felt blessed with many things in comparison.

As a result of her generosity she had very little left to take with her to Thailand. Now my closet is adequately full so sharing of my abundance to get her started in her teaching career seemed like a very sensible thing to do.

I started out looking through my things to see what I no longer wore. I frequently clean things out, as they tend to accumulate, so it wasn’t full of clothes that I no longer wear. This required that I share things that I care about. Sharing something that you are attached to is different than sharing things that you aren’t. It requires focusing on the Law of Sharing* that states that sharing abundance increases the level of abundance for everyone involved. You have to look at giving away something as increasing your level of abundance not as depleting it. When done in the spirit of love, it becomes a joy.

We become very attached to our things in this life. We develop emotional ties to our stuff. It doesn’t have to be stuff we even use anymore. Think of the things that accumulate in our kitchens, yards, closets, and garages. There is generally enough in the average American home to take care of several families’ basic needs. And yet we tend to hoard our things. We have a million excuses of why we hold onto things. We might use it some day, we paid good money for it, it is still useful (even though we haven’t used it in a decade), it might fit again, it might come back into style, we might give it away and then want it back, and on and on.

It is a great idea to keep in the practice of giving our things away. We don’t have to give away everything we need, but most of us aren’t in danger of going to that extreme anyway. We just need to constantly practice the Law of Sharing. It helps us with our materialistic tendencies and natural self-centeredness.

Every time I share I am reminded that I have more than enough. I never miss anything I give away. Not really. If I sometimes regret my generosity, it is usually enough to get me back on track to remember that someone else is being blessed and enjoying it and then my focus is restored.

The only lack we have in our lives of true significance is when we lack the presence of the Spirit. There is a scripture that reminds me that if I seek the Kingdom of God first, everything else will be taken care of. Its funny, but we can be surrounded with an abundance of things, but fail to notice the absence of God’s Spirit in our lives. In reality, I can have everything my heart could ever dream of, but if I don’t have God’s Spirit and love in my heart, I have nothing of any true value at all.

When it comes right down to it, that’s what I really care about the most. In the book of first Corinthians in the bible is the famous “love” chapter. It says that I can have amazing things, even outstanding spiritual gifts, but that if I don’t have love, I really don’t have anything at all.

God’s presence in my heart is the only way to be filled with love. Of all the things available in this life, that is the one I covet and treasure the most. The beauty is that it epitomizes the Law of Sharing. Every time I share God’s love with someone else the level of abundance is increased for both of us. There is no way to become poor loving others. It only makes you richer.

Just think of how beautiful our world could be if we could only learn to share with each other. It makes a nice picture, doesn’t it?

*For more information about the 108 Wisdom Laws visit the Two Worlds Wisdom School at the address listed on the sidebar.

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