Embracing My Poverty in a Season of Abundance

The pile of wrappings increase, almost daily. Presents come to my door; thanks to Amazon Prime.

Still, I know of a need; a lack requiring faith, bold steps, a portion of Christ I have yet to experience….

I must step towards the water, however, this journey requiring me to get out of my boat of my own comfort and security.

Clothes perfectly purchsed, good food made, making sure we have what we need under the tree this season. Yet, the details can make even the most calm and sain person’s head spin.

I open my devotions; “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches”, none of it should drown out our time and relationship with Jesus.

5:00 a.m. I tip toe downstairs. All the little ones still asleep, I feed our puppy, then find my place where I can connect with Jesus.

“I say to you, do not worry about your life”, Oswald Chambers reiterates scripture. “Sufficeint for the day is its own trouble” (Matt 6:34), Chamber’s spills over the book of Matthew.

I have always read th pis assage and thought worrying about what I wear or drink, was a passage for kings sitting in castles, a long, long distance away.

But this morning, in the dark with our newly cut Christmas tree filled with lights, warming up my heart, His word gets close and personal. His message becomes near, real, relevant.

I spent two hours yesterday putting away clothes for a 1 and 2 year old. Two hours. (Yes, they have way too many clothes) I spent another three hours doing laundry, washing, folding, carefully placing the family’s clothes in piles, as if my own measure of coins in modern day society.

Another part of my day was spent worrying about what we would eat if we host another Christmas party, or gather our older kids for a family decorating party.

So much worrying, mentally planning, obsessing if the house looks right, how the kids are fed, letting the cares of this world slowly slip in my head.

Then, I open scripture, because reading man’s interpretation of The Word is useful, but allowing the Holy Spirit to speak directly to you, through the Bible, is better.

11 Corinthians 8:2 I read, Their abundance of JOY & their deapth of POVERTY resulted in LAVISH GENEROSITY.

I meditate on that for a moment. Poverty equals generosity? But then, my mind flashed to the sermon on the mount. Poverty in Spirit. Poverty in Spirit results in generosity.

Verse 7. You excell at everything…now excell in the generous work [of giving].

There. There was the tention, of living safe, not stepping out in the bold area God had been speaking to me. Not taking risks. Convincing myself to play it safe….

Was this God asking me to dive deep into the area of generosity He has recently been leading?

Then, verse 8. I give this not as an order [to dictate you], but to prove by pointing out your zeal to others, the sincerity of your love.

Love resulting in generosity? How can we say we love and then hoard all our resources, keep back our time, feelings, the very core of our being from other people?

Generous love is what flows from the Father. Love that doesn’t think of our own food and drink, clothes, worrying about what tomorrow will bring.

Love lavishes all it has on other people. It doesn’t hold back, keep, play it safe….or carefully creep towards what holds it’s affection.

I think about the Prodigal son’s parent. His dad, when he saw his son, didn’t wait harsh and scolding, but ran to his son and covered him in jewelry, robes, even killing the fatted calf for him.

Love is like that. It gives freely, reaches forward, gives without thinking about ones own safety or resources.

Love is generous. Generous with time and attention, recognizing it’s own poverty and out of that poverty, making a way for others to be placed higher in their minds, than oneself.

I read more…

11 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus, though rich, become poor, in order that by His poverty you might become enriched [abundantly supplied].

Then, it hit…

verse 15. “He who gathered much had nothing left over, but He who gathered little, did not lack.” [Exod 16:18].

It was time to shift my mind from what I needed to what I should be giving; not in material possessions, but in a greater, spiritual sense.

After all, Christmas wasn’t about me, my family, or my little corner of the world, and what we needed.

Christmas wasn’t about how beautifully I decorated the tree, clothed my children, or if I had the perfect, Pinterest worthy, meals to eat.

Christmas was about a King, a King who had it all, yet stripping himself from everything, to lay naked in a manger, so that in His abundance, Him giving all He had, we could embody the riches of heaven…

I shut my Bible, looking up humbly. Realizing, in a season of abundance, it’s time I embrace my poverty….

Living a life of real generosity; the type of giving that isn’t necessarily about material gifts.