Investing in our spiritual life must needs be including sacrificing that which we treasure as our perceived security, our material wherewithal enabling us to enjoy the generous benefits of our life.
“Those people cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them because they see and covet what He has not given them.
All of our discontents for what we want appear to me to spring from want of thankfulness for what we have.” ~ Daniel Defoe
This morning's weather was bright, and sunny enabling me to visit our village inn, drinking coffee alongside several regulars discussing the visit of Pope Francis arriving in Athens on this Saturday. Manolis, a retired stone mason asked me how does one live a spiritual life, filled with thanks for ones abundance. Manolis is living a simple, minimalist life on a state pension with an understanding that at 85 years of age he is well aware that he is much happier, than those wealthy clients dotted across northern Greece who received the many benefits of his labours.
Appreciating all that we have living a comfortable life should include sharing something of our prosperity with those clearly lacking the basics. My Welsh grandmother, Catherine would gladly open the pantry door and share her lunch, or dinner plate with a visitor who just happened to call in unannounced. We do not need to walk the streets searching for homeless people, to offer them a square meal. It does no harm, and an almighty amount of good when passing a homeless person to offer them an item from our shopping basket.
Manolis pressed me further, asking me to explain how I went about sharing my abundance with those who by perceived chance, enter my orbit if only for a moment. Manolis understood immediately. Chance encounters are a figment of the imagination. We will simply know at that moment what is required of us, to thank Our Father for all the gifts that He has granted us.
Our Father will guarantee our happiness by introducing us to the needy, that we may then share something of our good fortune, with the less fortunate. That sharing need not be money. Kind advice often provides solace for those seeking wise guidance.
Divine design ensures that we are all granted the opportunity to share our excess, with those who just happen to appear at an opportune moment to receive our generous offering.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
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