Abundance versus Scarcity

Gregg’s Reflection

My experience of twenty years of consulting with churches is that the worldview of scarcity abounds from the local church up through the denominational hierarchy. It is not hard to understand. Up and down the line, the church is trying to make do with shrinking resources, declines in membership and financing. It is easy to move into retrenchment.

My friend Dave Daubert, who led efforts in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) at transforming churches on plateau or decline, leads a local congregation in Chicago. One time, during a capital campaign, he said to the church, “We have all the money we need to do this, the only problem is most of it is still in your pockets.” That’s straight to the point.

During most of my career, I was seeking to reach financial security by accumulating. In a moment of reckoning, while staring at a $6.5 Million judgment, God came to me in a time of meditation, and I heard, “Do I need to take it all away from you for you to see that money is not where to put your trust?”

I walked away from the business world at age 48, saying, “That is enough.” I turned to seeking a life of calling, and moved into a place of gratitude, and abundance instead of scarcity. Over the 20 years since then, it has been enough. Through ups and downs, I have trusted God to provide, and it has happened.

is an illustration I drew to share with a coaching client. I find it useful:

What would it take for you to shift from a world view of scarcity to one of abundance? See scripture and wisdom sayings that point us in that direction.

Scripture

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest. And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. Your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Luke 12:22-31

I came to give life and to give it abundantly. John 10:10

God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. Corinthians 9:8-9

I have learned to be content with whatever I have. Philippians 4:11

Ancient Writings

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.

St. Basil

Just think of the illimitable abundance and the marvelous loveliness of light, or of the beauty of the sun and moon and stars.

St. Augustine

Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within you?

Rumi

There is no greater wealth in this world than peace of mind.

Unknown Author

Giving is the secret of abundance.

Sivananda

Enough is abundance to the wise.

Euripides

Modern Writings

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred…unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you want love and abundance in your life, give it away.

Mark Twain

All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune.

Henry David Thoreau

Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest, the world continues without our help. It invites us to delight in the world's beauty and abundance.

Wendell Berry

Psychologically, humans tend to operate out of a worldview of fear and scarcity rather than trust and abundance. This stingy, calculating worldview makes both grace and mercy unimaginable and difficult to experience.

Richard Rohr: Essential Teachings on Love, p. 78

The work of compassion is indeed a non-negotiable human responsibility, and there is a fundamental relationship between compassion and abundance. But what people nearly always miss is the direction of flow in this relationship. Contrary to apparent logic, for Jesus compassion is a fruit of the abundance, not a means to it. Perceiving the abundance comes first. Then compassion follows as its natural trajectory. Jesus’ implacable opposition to any form of clinging and hoarding is not simply for external reasons; not just because it creates a constriction in the flow of the abundance. The real damage is internal: it makes us spiritually blind. We become literally unable to perceive the abundance that in fact surrounds us, or to participate in the dance of giving-is-receiving.

Cynthia Bourgeault, The Problem with Hoarding

Where churches flourish, communities thrive and people are enriched.

Dave Travis, Leadership Network

If we aren’t making a decision to thrive, we are making a decision to die. You can only tread water so long before you sink. Deconstruction is meant to be intentional effort. Otherwise it is destruction.

Mark Ritchie Spiritual Director

When you're in love, you're operating from this foundational sense of abundance, not from scarcity or fear. There is an inherent generosity of spirit, of smile, of gesture, of readiness, of initial acceptance that you immediately sense from any person who is standing inside this Flow.

Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love, p. 256

Scarcity vs Abundance. The course we are on assures us of a predictable future of strained individualism, environmental destruction, severe competition as resources dwindle for a growing population, and perpetual war. Our culture ingrains in us the belief that there isn’t enough to go around, which determines most of our politics and spending. In the United States there is never enough money for adequate health care, education, the arts, or even basic infrastructure. At the same time, the largest budget is always for war, bombs, and military gadgets. I hope we can all recognize how the tragic consequences of these decisions are being played out right now. E. F. Schumacher (1911–1977) said years ago, “Small is beautiful,” and many other wise people have come to know that less stuff invariably leaves room for more soul. In fact, possessions and soul seem to operate in inverse proportion to one another. Only through simplicity can we find deep contentment instead of perpetually striving and living unsatisfied. Simple living is the foundational social justice teaching of Jesus, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Dorothy Day, Pope Francis, and all hermits, mystics, prophets, and seers since time immemorial. Franciscan spirituality asks us to let go, to recognize that there is enough to go around and meet everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed.

Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devo, 6/30/20

Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie it would mean less for everybody else… Instead, I have an Abundance Mentality: when people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.

Stephen Covey