After the financial letdowns of 2008, it's good to know that
the next few months will likely be a time for healing and
recovery. Financial abundance, like everything in life, is not
so much about what's out there in the world, but what's inside,
creating your personal reality.
Dreama Vance, the cofounder of InfiniteBeing.com, recalls how
her grandmother lived her life, even through the years of the
Great Depression, with an almost magical sense of natural
abundance.
Secrets of Abundance
by Dreama Vance
The light filtered softly into the room as the class took a
deep breath and relaxed on yoga mats. "What is your first
memory when I say the word grandmother?" the instructor asked.
Apple butter. Immediately I could taste the tangy sweetness,
smell the cinnamon, feel the velvety texture on my tongue. At
the same instant I saw her, sitting in the porch swing peeling
apples and I saw myself standing beside a huge kettle over an
open fire, huddling in my jacket against the cool crisp air of
the early autumn morning. I remember it as an Event. The day
before, some of the neighbor ladies would gather on the porch
and peel apples all day. Then, the next morning, the apple
butter would cook all day outside over that open fire in that
kettle that was bigger than I was. My mother tells me that they
would get rolls of new pennies at the bank and line the kettle
with them to keep the apple butter from sticking on the bottom.
Afterwards, there would be jars and jars of apple butter and it
was the very best in all the world.
And so was my grandmother. From the earliest time I can
remember until college I would spend summers with my
grandparents. So I learned a lot from them. They were simple,
hardworking people, with not much education, but I learned my
first principle of abundance from them.
Grandmother did not work outside of the home, but she always
had money. When my sister and I wanted to go to the movies,
Grandmother would pull out a twenty dollar bill and tell us to
keep the change. This was when movies cost ten cents on
Saturdays.
Grandmother was always finding money. It sounds funny to me
now but it's true. Her "luck" finding money is legendary in our
family. Granddaddy would take her to the grocery store and
Grandmother would open her car door and look down and there
would be a twenty dollar bill. Or, she would be in the grocery
store and lean over the meat counter and find a twenty dollar
bill. Once she bought a sack of potting soil and opened it up
and found three hundred dollars.
At the same time Grandmother was finding money, she was
quietly giving it away. Obviously, she gave to us kids. But I
also remember taking laundry up to Juanita's house to be ironed
(even though she had two perfectly capable grandchildren who
could iron) because Juanita's husband was out of work and she
had six children to feed. By sending the ironing, Grandmother
was able to pay her.
There are other stories of goodness, caring for the sick,
meeting needs as she found them. Grandmother always had the
minister come for Sunday dinner and she made sure he had new
shoes when he needed them. Once Grandmother brought home a
neighbor who was in a nursing home and fed and bathed and cared
for her for three weeks so the lady could have a "change of
scenery."
As I look back, I literally see my Grandmother with money
coming into her left hand, passing through her heart and going
out her right hand. It is a constant flow. It comes in and goes
out. We are, after all, a conduit for the Infinite.
The Source is within us. We do not need to seek outside of
ourselves for our supply. Indeed, there is, actually, nothing
outside of our consciousness. All we need to do, first, is to
realize this. The realization that nothing comes to us, but
instead comes from us, from the Outpouring of Spirit, is the
foundation of all abundance. Secondly, we must release it. We
must turn on the flow. We do this by giving. Spiritual
teachings tell us to create a vacuum so the Universe can fill
it up; that as you give, so shall you receive.
I love the two Bible stories of the widow who feeds Elijah,
and Jesus with the loaves and fishes. In the first, Elijah asks
a poor widow for a morsel of bread. The destitute widow has
only a tiny bit of meal and a few drops of oil, only enough to
make one last cake for her and her son before they face death
from such extreme poverty. Elijah assures her that if she feeds
him first, her supply will not run out. This woman, facing
death, takes from her meager supply, and believing, steps out
in faith, and gives. She prepares a tiny cake and feeds
Elijah. From this act, the cruse (container) of oil and the
meal are replenished; to the initial tiny bit, more and more
is added, and she feeds Elijah and her household throughout the
famine. (1 Kings 17: 11-16)
In the story of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus is out
in the desert teaching and healing these hordes of people that
have followed him when, as the day wanes, the disciples
approach and suggest that he send the crowds away to find food
and lodging. Jesus replies, "Feed them." The disciples,
however, respond that they have only five loaves and two fishes
unless they go and buy food for all of the people. So Jesus
takes the five loaves and two fishes, blesses them, and gives
them to the disciples to set before the multitudes. Everyone
eats until they are full. At the end of the meal, there are
twelve basketsful left over. (Luke 9: 11-17)
The two stories, so rich in symbolism, illustrate the same
principles I learned from my grandparents. Open your heart and
let the 'All That Is' pour out from you into manifestation. For
many of us, when we first begin our spiritual journey, we will
give like the widow, stepping out in faith that our supply will
be met. But as we mature in our spiritual growth and
understanding we will act from a place of knowledge, knowing
the Infinite within, and blessing and releasing as Jesus did.
Daily, in your meditation time, look into your house and see
what you have to give. Begin to pour from your cruse of oil and
break your loaves of bread. And like my grandmother, do it
quietly, in silence.
For more articles on Spiritual Metaphysics for the New
Reality, visit:
http://www.InfiniteBeing.com |
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