Living with Abundance in the everyday moments of your life
Jesus said it best.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
But what does experiencing the abundant life even look like? And how do we dwell in abundance when life is ordinary? When there are errands to run and families to feed and jobs to go to? How do we slow down long enough to experience the abundant life right where we are?
A good question
It’s a good question, am I right? As we head into Thanksgiving, I’m looking at preparing my heart not just to enjoy the stuffing in the bird (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it - YUM!), but also to be thankful for my blessings. And being thankful includes realizing the abundance that is mine in Jesus.
I posed this question because I like to be seasonable with my group coaching topics. As we gathered around the table last Saturday, I wanted to explore with the One Foot community what it looks like to dwell in abundance. At Thanksgiving. At Christmas. In the everyday rhythms of my life.
So you may be wondering what abundance even means? The technical definition is overflowing fullness or extremely plentiful. It’s to experience a life out of the overflow of all the gifts God gives us.
Abundance is not about having stuff
To prepare for my group coaching session, I did a little research. What does abundance really mean?
It doesn’t mean having a lot of stuff. Or always feeling happy. Some have pointed to overflowing success as abundance. My research led me from John 10:10 to Hebrews 11 to James 1:17. The examples of Scripture show us that abundance is not always about success, or having all that we want, or even a life without hardship.
Instead, James 1:17 says it best in that they key to dwelling in abundance is seeing every moment and every thing we have as a gift from God. Our people. Our places. Our own relationship with God. The life change we have experienced. Our jobs. Our homes. And even our stuff. And when we see all of life as a gift, we experience overflowing thankfulness. Grateful for God’s love. Grateful that He loves us through our people. Grateful that He provides for us in the ways we need and not just the ways we want.
A scarcity mindset keeps us from dwelling in abundance
As I dug deeper, I came across something I had never really heard of or pondered. There are two sides to dwelling in abundance. We can live with a scarcity mindset or we can live with an abundance mindset. So what’s the difference?
Scarcity includes thoughts like…
I don’t have enough
I am not enough
I’m running out of ___________
Other people have more of _____________
You get the picture. But here’s the challenge. We can look at that list and not relate. We think we have enough. We’re not running out. I thought so too, until I read this quote in one of the articles I found.
“Our first waking thought of the day is “I didn’t get enough sleep.” The next one is “I don’t have enough time”...Before we even sit up i n bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night our minds race with a litany of what we don’t get, or didn’t get done that day. ”
OUCH!
We all may unknowingly be embracing a scarcity mindset which keeps us from seeing God’s gifts as good gifts for us.
The key to dwelling in abundance
The journey to dwelling in abundance goes right through sufficiency. It’s the idea that instead of not having enough - we have enough.
We have a choice when it comes to sufficiency. We can choose to try to find sufficiency on our own. In our own strength, we can believe we have enough. Or, we can rely on the sufficiency of Christ. To pay for our sins. To give us value. To define our identity. To provide what we need. To proclaim that we are enough as we are.
And when we are enough, we don’t need the things we want. We start wanting the things we need to live in abundance. To become more like Jesus. To allow our abundance to make a lasting impact with our people. In our places. With our God-given gifts.
Evaluating Abundance
I don’t know about you, but this scarcity mindset is following me around just a little bit. In what ways is a scarcity mindset holding me back? From thanksgiving as we prepare for Thanksgiving? From moving forward in life and relationships and work? From finding freedom in who God created me to be? From enjoying each moment as a gift from God?
If you’d like to go deeper, I created a coaching tool for our group session which you can replicate at home. It’s a simple evaluation you can do today.
Where do you have a scarcity mentality? (Evaluate the different areas of your life: faith, work, relationships, health, and finances, and other areas you can think of)
Where do you have an abundance mentality in those same areas?
What one baby step can you take to move from scarcity to abundance?
The reality is that you and I won’t move from scarcity to abundance overnight. It takes intention. It takes challenging our thinking on some days before our feet hit the floor in the morning. It takes finding steps of faith to realize that our sufficiency is in Jesus. As you and I start choosing abundance and leaving behind scarcity, we will find a heart overflowing with thanksgiving. Every single time.
