“We imagine God’s idea of abundance to be an exaggerated version of ours, like an upgraded hotel room or a surprise free drink at our favorite coffee shop. And while He sometimes does those very things, His way often confounds.”- Sara Hagerty
“You have loved us first, O God. . . . if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward you in prayer, You are there ahead of me. You have loved me first.”- Soren Kierkegaard
In Chapter 13 (“S9mething Beyond”), the final chapter of The Gift of Limitations, Sara Hagerty underscores that this whole life builds to the moment when we get to see Jesus’ face. Consequently, Sara wonders why we spend a lifetime reaching for something else. Yet, the moment we step into eternity we expect to — boom — acquire a taste for the beauty of His face.
Writing in Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis discussed this inclination:
“Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties, and the rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of these things. . . . But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world.”
However, Sara asserts, the rim of our world lacks depth. Above all, we fail to see this until we skin our knees against it. Then we realize another world might exist. But from our human perspective, we imagine God’s abundance to be an exaggerated version of ours.
In conclusion, Sara counsels, we must remember that his life in God is not a one-and-done. Because the inertia of our thinking and the world we live in leads us to believe and live as if all victories were once won. Thus, we view growth as behind us. But God ordered the cycle of seasons in our lives.
Today’s question: How do you imagine God’s idea of abundance? Please share.
Coming Monday: the June Short Meditation, “Slow to chide and swift to bless”
Tomorrow’s blog: “The flashes of His face”