The Glass Half Full; A Question of Scarcity or Abundance

Damned old COVID-19.

It sure is messing things up for a consumer nation of folks who are used to getting what we want when we want it. Amazon has taught us to satisfy our whims with one or two day delivery options. But now there is this new reality shaking things all up.

My favorite Prime orders are taking up to five days. What to do. What to do. Now, it even looks like the fast food joints I love might close. My glass is looking half empty. Or is that just an illusion?

Our lives have been disrupted as we learn how to “hunker down” at home. The images of empty shelves and crowds of panicky shoppers standing in lines at the grocery store are posted all over social media while the networks and news outlets report shortages of toilet paper, fresh meat, hand sanitizer, bread, and on and on.

This worrisome health crisis has people hoarding as if we are facing an end of necessities and food. But, of course, there is just as much now as there was three weeks ago. All of the lack of supply is due to our own over reaction. While this situation may be bigger than all of us, it need not compromise good common sense. When we stockpile things it causes other people to do without.

Here are some grocery store best practices to keep all of our wits about us;

• Buy things just like you would on any other grocery trip and add one extra day of staples and things to freeze or store. No hoarding.

• Use sanitizing wipes on your cart/buggy handles before and after use.

• Be patient, kind, cheerful, and generous to people who work in food service. They are stressed and tired.

• Check on elders and offer to shop for them.

Beyond all the food concerns, there seems to be some difficulty finding silver linings as we sequester at home. This will all come to an end, just as it did in 1918. There is no zombie apocalypse. It's up to each and every one of us to develop or maintain a glass half full mentality until it does (and perhaps forever forward).

My daughter in Chicagoland is one who looks on the bright side. She posted a picture of my grandchildren with a St. Patricks Day project they just completed saying this;

"Our leprechaun trap is ready. Our shamrocks are decorated and in the window and we made it through another day of the quarantine! I’m so lucky to be at home with my favorite people. Stay healthy and safe everyone."

What an opportunity we have in front of us. We can finish off those pesky tasks around the house we've been putting off. The people with whom we live can get our undivided attention and appreciation. Board games can be dusted off and played (even long lasting ones like Monopoly).

That book we got for Christmas can be read. Prayer time and meditation can be expanded causing a little grace to settle in. My guess is that you could add in a few more ideas. No matter what, it would be sad not to seize this time and make the most of it. We are in this together and another chance might never present itself.

Well look at that! I think my glass really is half full. Or might it be full to the brim?

Our Worldview of Scarcity; The Best Things in Life are Free

We are driven by the worry that there is not going to be enough to go around.

This concept is exploited by politicians and governmental leaders to promote their agendas. It is one of the reasons we wage war. It is the basis of avarice. It causes us to hate instead of love. But is there any fundamental truth to this vision of scarcity? Are there limits to God's abundance? The New Testament lessons of five loaves and two fish multiplied by Jesus to feed five thousand is not just a sweet story. Whether considered as historical fact or metaphor, the lesson indicates that there is nothing lacking except our limited perspective fueled by fear.

In his best selling book, The Power of Intention, Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote; " When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. When you see the world as abundant and friendly, your intentions are genuine possibilities. They will, in fact, become a certainty." Certainly, wIth this alternate kind of worldview those possibilities become endless. Rather than succumbing to the frightening spectre of running out of things and being left without resources, we become empowered by the truth that 'God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause' (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Maybe it was a good cause that kept my Dad, Ken Jones, so chipper and cheerful most all of the time. If so, the cause he devoted himself to was family and friends. His generosity of spirit could be felt whenever he walked into a room. Ken was a believer in abundance and a doubter of scarcity. Born in 1909, he lived through prosperity, the Great Depression, World War II and a return to prosperity. He lost plenty and gained plenty. There was rarely a time when he wasn't whistling. One of his favorite melodies was "The Best Things in Life are Free" which would spring from his lips as if it just had to be shared. He sang it, hummed it, and tweeted it sometimes to my adolescent disdain. One day, I asked him why he kept repeating the song. He replied that the words were a gold standard for him...that nothing was lacking in life. I protested citing world poverty and wealth disparity. He said that shortages were man-made and caused by greed. With that he performed a demonstration.

Eisner Grocery Store in our hometown of Danville, Illinois

He took me to the Eisner Grocery Store in our hometown of Danville, Illinois and began filling up his shopping cart and one I was pushing with paper towels, all the while whistling his happy tune. Ken was well known and popular, so it wasn't long before someone stopped him to ask what was going on. He got a serious look on his face and said that there was a paper towel shortage and soon there would be none to be had for 'who knows how long'. By the time we left the store (after several questions by shoppers and much meandering), the aisle was devoid of paper towels altogether. There was even a blurb in our local newspaper telling that paper towels were scarce. This was a great lesson for me and another source of glee for him to story about. His bottom line was that love was available in an unlimited supply and nothing else could be lacking as long as you believe this to be true.

Nobody can reasonably doubt that there are shortages of valuable resources. Fresh water is unavailable in many parts of the world. People are starving. Homelessness is at an all time high as refugees flee their impoverished or dangerous countries. But all of this is true while, at the same time, there is excess and plenty in other places.

When we recognize that scarcity is man-made and fixable it will finally be possible to grasp that the best things in life are free. Until then, we will remain too frightened to share our abundance.

Finding the Pony; A Full Embrace of Abundance

Our load will be lightened and spirit renewed when we delight in the fullness of life.

We have become such a people of more, bigger and better...quickly tossing aside treasures of yesterday in favor of today's bling. Our sense of lack has obscured the presence of incredible abundance surrounding us.  It gets pretty ridiculous.  Someone I know owns a perfectly good, late model smartphone, but is champing at the bit to spend nearly $1,000 for the newest release. Really. We seem to be chasing headlong after some distant pleasure that, when finally obtained, provides such transient comfort that we must start the pursuit all over again. I'm reminded of the story about two little boys being tested by a psychologist:

A researcher took two subjects, an eight-year-old privileged boy and an eight-year-old marginalized boy, placing them in two separate rooms.  The wealthy kid was seated among dozens of brightly wrapped gifts and the poor kid was enclosed with great ceiling-high piles of horse manure.  When the scientist returned to see what was happening two hours later, he found the boy with the presents wandering around his room with the carnage of opened presents strewn about.  When asked what he was doing the child replied, "I'm bored.".  Arriving in the second room, the researcher found an eight-year-old throwing horse manure all over the place.  When asked what he was doing, the child replied, "Hey mister, with all of this horse manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere."

We can do better than this. We are better than this.  Our own great privilege will be revealed if only we could take a personal and corporate inventory.  We will surely rediscover that the cup runneth over.  In fact, there is so much extra that we could probably never be without. God has given us an abundance of love that we might do good for those who struggle and suffer.  He implores us to appreciate what we have and to share our rich blessings.  Jesus and every prophet make this clear.  Now is the time to embrace our abundance. It is delightful. Look. There is a pony in there after all.

Thanksgiving Day and Lost Sheep

“Life has its problems and with these we must cope. 
Trust in God, have blind faith and never give up hope.”~ Cortez McDaniel

As Thanksgiving nears, I am thinking of Cortez McDaniel, a resident of Christ House in Washington, DC.  He is a poet, is chronically ill, and a once homeless man without much hope. He had little reason to be thankful.  But just when he was at the end of his rope, the incredible miracle of Christ House reached him.  There, he received expert medical care, safe respite, a warm bed, nurturing love, nourishing food and a place to recover.  His gentle heart was restored and life has renewed possibility.  God went in search of this lost sheep and brought him home.

Christ the Servant at Christ House in Washington, DC

We who have been blessed with comfort, work, family, friends, cars, homes and such abundance have no reason to complain.  Our annoyances, worries, and frustrations come from an illusion of scarcity and lack.  Even in our culture filled with prosperity, we often choose to see the glass half empty.  Here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving.  If tempted to complain about what we are missing this year; who failed to come to the table, what favorite dish was forgotten, or that the turkey was deep fried instead of roasted, let’s stop a minute and think about Cortez McDaniel and his friends at Christ House.  Let’s fill our hearts with the bounty of God’s grace in full appreciation.  How fortunate and blessed we are!

A lost sheep is crying out for help somewhere in your life.  Thanksgiving is a good time to go out, no matter how far it has strayed, and welcome it back home.

“A lost sheep needs a shepherd to find the way." ~ Felix Wantang