Abundance

I had an interesting conversation with my nine year old son the 6 years ago. Here is how it went……

Son: I don’t want to go to school. It’s stupid. Why do I have to go? (I know this sounds familiar – either with your own kids or when you were one!)

Mom: You need to go to school to learn so you can support yourself when you are an adult (yes, and why aren’t you working now, is what I really want to say)

Son: What if God made everyone really smart so they wouldn’t have to go to school. They would know everything they needed to know.

Mom: God did make us really smart and we do know all we need to know. Each of us was created with special talents and gifts that God asks us to use to help one another. Unfortunately, the world is not set up to operate this way so some people wind up having more than others.

Son: What about a doctor? Doctors have to learn to make people better and get paid.

Mom: Yes, and they would get the training they needed to be able to heal people. What if doctors heal people, farmers feed people, carpenters build housing for people and educators teach people regardless of whether they got paid. Their needs would be taken care of because God has created an earth that has an abundance of resources for everyone. And He asks us to share our gifts and talents with each other.

Son: Oh, I get it. That makes sense (and there has not been a mention of not going to school since!!!).

Yes, it does make sense yet we haven’t evolved to this way of thinking as a culture. We must discern between our needs and our wants which is not always easy to do because billions of dollars are spent on advertising that tells us we need it all. We must turn to God to help us identify our needs and trust in Him to meet them through his gracious provision.

The “seed” has been planted in the mind of a nine year old. I encourage you to plant some “seeds” by sharing the thoughts and ideas of abundance with your family and friends. When we do this, we open minds to receive God’s blessing of living in this world of abundance. And who knows, this nine year old may enter a world that is embracing abundant living when he reaches adulthood!!!

Update:
We remain in a scarcity mind set more than ever. The recent world wide econimic issues show us this truth. My son is now 15 years old and soon to be an adult. Maybe we are hitting rock bottom and will flourish torward an abundant view. Keep hope alive for our future generations!