Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Abundance or Scarcity...Which Do You See?

I saw in the news this past week that another bank went under. Everywhere you look the media of our nation are placing the blackest of clouds to overshadow our landscape. And if I were to adopt the attitude that the mainstream media is propagating I would be in the midst of a downward mental spiral, as so many Americans actually are right now. The 'chicken littles' are squawking all around us and most people have run indoors to avoid the chunks of sky that must inevitably be headed their way.

I know I have touched on this before, but I cannot get over how quickly we Americans swallow the doom and gloom reports and embrace a scarcity mindset. Tim Sanders wrote about this in his blog yesterday and it was an excellent post on resisting such a mindset. As Christians, we have even more reason to embrace an abundance mindset. The Scriptures are full of His promises to His people of His great provision. Yes, we need to be wise as serpents but we need not ever cross over into being as scared as chickens. And I am not living in some insulated bubble of money that makes me blind to what is true about the state of our economy. We are feeling deeply the real effects of a real recession in our own home. But I am not willing to stop living and believing and enjoying my life. We all learned in economics class that an economy is cyclical...what goes around really does come around. The roller coaster has taken many of us into a low curve but rest assured, that coaster will head back up again and the key is choosing to enjoy the whole ride with an eye towards abundance and not scarcity.

2 comments:

Brad Ruggles February 24, 2009 at 7:38 AM  

There's definitely a balance for sure. I think it's just important for us to remember who our real source is. Our source isn't and never has been our job, paycheck, or the government. Our source owns the cattle on a thousand hills and has promised that He'll take care of us.

Great reminder.

Rachel February 24, 2009 at 11:56 AM  

I think a little perspective is always healthy. Most of us are, when you think about it, filthy rich - even if our 401K's have tanked and we can't afford to go on vacation this year. These are not points of concern in most places on this planet. They are too busy finding their next meal. Does that mean that a recession doesn't hurt? Absolutely not. But pain isn't always something to be avoided. Sometimes pain is a most excellent teacher.