It is written in our nature that we expect there to be enough to go around. Enough money, enough time, enough love, enough friends, enough… blessings. It is our human experience to realize, that to our great chagrin, this is not always the case. Moments when we crash into this reality are always unsettling. They feel like the experience when you leave a moving walkway and once again step on solid ground. Your body lurches forward with momentum, yet your feet stagger below you, unused to their new yet familiar burden.
These predicaments often get a lot of press. Poverty is a national conversation. Loneliness is so pervasive that it is something of a shared experience, even in it’s very alone-ness. And yet, scarcity of time is something that is so common that it has in many ways become our mode of operation. It is almost a point of pride to be so busy juggling obligations that you have no margin for error. Yet, our life is such a precious gift, simply enduring our days does not seem to be what he asks of us.
O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Psalm 39:4-5
I have just come out of a busy time at work. It has only been in the past few days that I felt like I have had the ability to stop and take a breath, to look up and see the world around me. The past three months have held so many responsibilities, trips away from home, odd and extra time spent at the office. It can be hard to feel as if you are so busy at a time of year when other people seem to have time to relax. However, when I take a step back, I realize that although I had a lot going on, and although I did it all, I had the completely wrong mentality.
S
omewhere along the line, I allowed myself to slip into what I think of as the mindset of scarcity. At some point, I told myself that there wasn’t enough time to do what I needed to do. And with that assertion, things began to snowball. I had less capacity to hold things in my head. I had less patience for myself, for my kids, for my husband. I began to cut corners at home, dishes began to pile up on the counter. I became impatient and resentful of people who asked things of me, or who failed to immediately deliver what I asked of them. I lost touch with friends. I started skipping social events. In other words, i was a royal pain to be around.
Why?
Because I had told myself that there wasn’t enough of me to go around. That my mental and emotional stores were depleted. Which felt true. But with that statement, I was also telling myself a lie about God. That he didn’t care. That he couldn’t renew me, guide me, or console me. That I simply had to survive what was ahead, instead of daring to engage or thrive within these challenges. I slammed the door in God’s face. I stopped carving out time for prayer and reflection. I did not allow God the space he needed to renew me.
When I slip into the mindset of scarcity, the first thing that happens is that I feel frazzled. Then I feel overburdened, then tired, then resentful. I start focusing on what I don’t have, instead of celebrating what I do have. I begin desperately hoarding quiet moments, only to fill them with my unquiet thoughts and anxieties. Does that sound familiar to you?
What if, when we meet times of trials, we look in hope for God’s provinence? What if we expect Him to turn up, to order our days, to replenish our flagging spirits? Think of how you could view new challenges with this mindset- eager to see what God will do, even, dare I say, what God will do through you?
The best I can say about these past few months is that I survived. Even while I was in the midst of it, I had a nagging feeling that I was doing it wrong. But this feeling simply mixed in with the rest of the gloomy negativity to continue to drag me down. However, it is my prayer and my hope that the next time I walk though this valley of scarcity, I will look to my Provider for strength, for hope, and for guidance!
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:1-5
seconds of selah 