On weekdays during Advent we are posting the daily reflection from our Abundance Advent booklet here on our blog. You can download the booklet in its entirety here.
I tend to think in pictures. When I close my eyes and think of the word "abundance," I picture something along the lines of a cornucopia, or a bunch of fruit on a tree branch. Why does my mind associate this word with gourds and apples and oranges when these are such common things that rarely give me any real fulfillment? Food for thought.
When used in context, the term "abundant" applies most accurately to a metaphysical concept... not something I can contain, but something that moves through me.
When I look to the scriptures, this adjective is often used with nouns such as: Life (John 10:10), Peace (Psalm 37:11), Hope (Romans 15:13), Grace (2 Corinthians 9:8), Love (Exodus 34:6). These fruits come from the Holy Spirit. So why then do I continue to feel the need to collect, to build up a stockpile of goods? Like Ariel marvels at her collection of whozits, whatzits, and thingamabobs and it leaves her wanting more, when all around her is a vast ocean... I get caught up in the little things and I easily forget that abundance is quality, not quantity. God’s beauty is fully and deeply rendered artwork. He invites us to step into the painting to experience its depth, yet I’m still trying to look at it from a distance, and decorating my own life with flat comic strips and carbon copies.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory: "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."