God Does Not Debit my Blessings Account to Credit My Neighbor’s Account!

There is a gospel story that illustrates the principle of abundance through sharing — the miracle of Jesus feeding five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus was teaching a crowd and it was getting late. The disciples became concerned as they had no food to feed them. They asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they could go home and eat. Jesus insisted that the disciples find food for them, but all they could find was a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish.

The disciples saw lack and wanted to dismiss the crowd, but Jesus saw abundance in those loaves and fish and made them sit on the grass for a feast.

What do you think really happened that day? Some preachers say that when Jesus prayed, the heavens opened, and the loaves of bread and fish rained from the sky into the hands of people. Like a magician who makes things appear from thin air with his sleight of hand.

I don’t think Jesus is a magician and I don’t believe there was a rain of bread and fish from the sky.

What happened that day was a miracle — not a rain of bread and fish from the sky — but the miraculous transformation of a scarcity mindset into generous sharing.

In those days, when people went to listen to teachers, they packed food with them. Fast food places like McDonald’s and Burger King didn’t exist. Every family would pack enough food for the members of their household. Jesus motivated and inspired them to open their lunch bags and share.

When 5000 people opened their lunch bags and shared what they had with those around them, there was plenty to go around and then some. We see this phenomenon at potluck dinners every time.

There is an abundance of food when it is shared.

The story says, “the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of broken pieces that were left over” — abundance!

It was not so much that people didn’t have anything, but they had not realized what they had. They realized that when things are shared, there is plenty to go around.

Before I learned the lesson about the abundant Universe, it was very hard for me to give compliments or feel genuinely happy about the success of others. Others’ gain was seen as my loss, others’ success as my failure.

Learning from the Earth made me realize that when others attain happiness and success, the Universe is not taking it away from me to give to them.

God is not the C.E.O. of a nefarious pyramid scheme where he takes a blessing from one creature to give to another, but a quantum field of extravagant abundance.

The Universe does not debit my blessings account to credit my neighbor’s blessings account!

I realized that instead of a stingy spirit, if I have a generous spirit, blessings will flow my way too.

That is why Jesus said: “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap” (Lk.6:38).

But for blessings to come to you, you must give them away. Before more water can flow into it, the Sea of Galilee must let the water already in it, flow out.

So, the Universe is abundant. The planet we live on has everything in abundance. If only we share what we have, there will be plenty for everyone.

Always remember that when we give something to others whether it is money, compliments, love, compassion, or forgiveness, it is not like we are deducting from what we have. We are only channeling it through us.

We give so that we can receive; we empty ourselves so that we can be filled again. As mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat Zin says,

“At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, no recipient…only the Universe rearranging itself.”

This mindfulness guru encourages us to “share the fullness of your being, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, above all, your presence.”

Be fully present with the person you are with at any given moment, without being distracted by private thoughts, passing phenomena, or a phone in your hand.

Thinking of ourselves as conduits rather than containers through which the blessings of the Universe keep flowing is the secret to feeling abundance within us and around us all the time.

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)