Plenty

“Every tree should be decorated with lights to show that that is its true nature.” -Saint Francis

Several years ago, my family was preparing for a trip and auditing the refrigerator to inventory all the perishable items, so that nothing would spoil in our absence. Perhaps you are familiar with this practice and have juggled this situation as well. The day before we were leaving, I glanced through the fridge and could tell, with certainty, that our leftover chicken salad and most of our bread was going to go uneaten. An idea occurred to me. I made a couple sack lunches, put them in the car, and drove around with my son.

I was familiar with the intersections where people asked for money, and it wasn’t long before I found a man who gladly accepted one of the lunches I had made. As I waited in my car for the light to turn green I watched him cross the street and walk to the nearby Walgreens. He proceeded to open the sack and divide the food between himself and a woman who had been sitting in the parking lot. I drove over and told him I had a second lunch and handed it to him. He gladly accepted it, again, and then I left to drive home.

Driving home I reflected on this encounter. One in which I was giving out of my plenty, and he was giving from a different place entirely.

There is this myth of scarcity that was mentioned as I went through business school in college. Without the concept “there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources,” as my textbooks said, most of my classes would have all been for naught. And as a professional accountant it is hard to deny the validity of this idea. For at the end of my workday debits always equal credits.

But then there are situations like the one above, in which someone who has nothing gives anyway, there is plenty and more will come another day, and it makes those basics of modern economics sound like heresy. I think of my encounter with this man often, especially at Christmas. For there is no better time to accept the invitation of plenty.

Today, for example, is the shortest day of the year (at least for half of the world) as we enter the heart of winter. Light appears scarce, as we eat breakfast in the dark and dinner in the dark. But there is plenty of light. Light adorns the roofs and lawns of houses in our neighborhoods, trees illuminate our homes, and candles burn brightly on our Advent wreaths. Christmas is a time when the external world looks bleak, and we give anyway. Christmas is a time when there is no vacancy, and a baby comes anyway. Christmas is a time when we look out at the darkness that encroaches on our lives and find the Light that has been inside us all along. 

May the quickness of today’s dawn and dusk help sharpen your awareness. May you find a way to look past the lack and see the abundance that is already around you. May you give generously, not just out of your plenty but from that other place as well. May you bear witness to the brightness inside of you, that is your true nature, and allow it to shine on whomever you meet. And may you, my friend, have a very merry Christmas.