Abundance is never about things, although sometimes we do have an abundance of stuff. You can experience abundance when you only possess one shirt and live in 100 square feet of space. You can experience abundance with 20 shirts and 5000 feet of living space. You can experience abundance with no possessions. Or you can not.
Abundance is a mindset. When we see the universe as abundant and having everything we need we have connected our nothingness with the abundance of the Creator. If we think that we must be surrounded with many things, we might possibly shut out abundance because we are trying to live an abundant life without connecting to the Source of abundance.
In Native American tradition there is the idea of the Field of Plenty. This teaching varies among the tribes, but the basic idea is demonstrated in the idea of the cornucopia—a spiral basket filled with abundance symbolizing that there is always enough to go around. We remember this idea at Thanksgiving when we commemorate the lessons learned by the Pilgrims in the early years in America. It was a teaching passed on to help alleviate the fears of the newcomers that they would starve to death in a new land. The teaching was to help them realize that there were more than enough resources for everyone.
The teaching of the cornucopia and the gratitude that fills it are not just for one day a year. The lesson is for all the time. When we approach God with hearts filled with gratitude, we invoke abundance from the universe. If we have a mindset of fear, we shut out the abundance that is available to us.
When we approach our lives with fear, we shut out possibility. When we believe that there are only so many resources available to us, we will fight to make sure that we get what we deserve.
You can observe this in young children. I was out shopping the other day, and was watching two mothers with toddlers. The one family had a little bag of cookies. The bag probably contained over 100 cookies. The mother asked her little girl to share one of her cookies with the other little girl that she was playing with. You can just imagine the scene that played out as the one with the cookies dissolved into panic and tears and tantrums about giving one of her 100 cookies to another. The mother finally took the cookies and handed some to the other girl, all the while, her daughter had come unglued screaming, “Those are myyyyyy cookies!”
You can’t help but laugh a little when you watch this. But have you ever tried to explain to a small child the idea of abundance? They just don’t get it! You can hold up the bag and show them how many are left, but it doesn’t sink in. We are just the same way, only we don’t fuss over a bag of cookies, we fuss over bigger stuff.
God must have the same challenge with us trying to help us understand that there really is enough to go around. The Apostle Paul reminds us that God will supply all of our needs because of His great riches. He holds the biggest bag of cookies we could ever imagine, and there is more than enough to go around.
To invoke abundance, we must be grateful. We have to change our minds about how rich and generous God really is and view the universe as a cornucopia of plenty. It is only as we give away to others, knowing that there is plenty, that we will open ourselves up to receive more. Freely you have received, freely give is the admonition given to us by Christ. It is the voice of the loving parent asking us to share our little cookie with another, because there is plenty more where that came from.
What can you share with the world today to open up a whole new level of abundance?
Abundance is a mindset. When we see the universe as abundant and having everything we need we have connected our nothingness with the abundance of the Creator. If we think that we must be surrounded with many things, we might possibly shut out abundance because we are trying to live an abundant life without connecting to the Source of abundance.
In Native American tradition there is the idea of the Field of Plenty. This teaching varies among the tribes, but the basic idea is demonstrated in the idea of the cornucopia—a spiral basket filled with abundance symbolizing that there is always enough to go around. We remember this idea at Thanksgiving when we commemorate the lessons learned by the Pilgrims in the early years in America. It was a teaching passed on to help alleviate the fears of the newcomers that they would starve to death in a new land. The teaching was to help them realize that there were more than enough resources for everyone.
The teaching of the cornucopia and the gratitude that fills it are not just for one day a year. The lesson is for all the time. When we approach God with hearts filled with gratitude, we invoke abundance from the universe. If we have a mindset of fear, we shut out the abundance that is available to us.
When we approach our lives with fear, we shut out possibility. When we believe that there are only so many resources available to us, we will fight to make sure that we get what we deserve.
You can observe this in young children. I was out shopping the other day, and was watching two mothers with toddlers. The one family had a little bag of cookies. The bag probably contained over 100 cookies. The mother asked her little girl to share one of her cookies with the other little girl that she was playing with. You can just imagine the scene that played out as the one with the cookies dissolved into panic and tears and tantrums about giving one of her 100 cookies to another. The mother finally took the cookies and handed some to the other girl, all the while, her daughter had come unglued screaming, “Those are myyyyyy cookies!”
You can’t help but laugh a little when you watch this. But have you ever tried to explain to a small child the idea of abundance? They just don’t get it! You can hold up the bag and show them how many are left, but it doesn’t sink in. We are just the same way, only we don’t fuss over a bag of cookies, we fuss over bigger stuff.
God must have the same challenge with us trying to help us understand that there really is enough to go around. The Apostle Paul reminds us that God will supply all of our needs because of His great riches. He holds the biggest bag of cookies we could ever imagine, and there is more than enough to go around.
To invoke abundance, we must be grateful. We have to change our minds about how rich and generous God really is and view the universe as a cornucopia of plenty. It is only as we give away to others, knowing that there is plenty, that we will open ourselves up to receive more. Freely you have received, freely give is the admonition given to us by Christ. It is the voice of the loving parent asking us to share our little cookie with another, because there is plenty more where that came from.
What can you share with the world today to open up a whole new level of abundance?
Comments