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On The Falsity of Scarcity Thinking and the Fact of Abundance Everywhere

By Anita Mathias

In which I help dig a field for a community project
When I am stressed, I go into scarcity mode. I just want to survive. I just want people to help me survive. I withdraw into my hard tortoise shell and want to stay there till the storm has passed, occasionally sticking out my head to say, “Help.”

 This is, of course, the antithesis of the way Jesus wants his Christians to live. He wants us to live with faith, because we truly do have have access to an immense power source, the Vine, the Holy Spirit. He wants me to live with faith because His eye is on the sparrow, the lily and me. He wants me to live with faith because all things are his, and I am his, and I can find all needful things in him.

I am having a very interesting, relaxed, happy time in Cambodia. However, it is a bit challenging physically—the heat, the residual jet lag, slight culture shock, the late nights blogging, up to midnight sometimes, and the early morning starts. 6.30 a.m. breakfast anyone?

I occasionally go into survival mode when tiredness creeps up on me. Oh Jesus, just get me through today. Oh Jesus, I just don’t have the energy to get out of the van and meet another lovely Cambodian. Please help me. Oh Jesus, I am barely awake; wake me up.

And then I remember: I don’t live in a world of scarcity, of just getting through challenge, but in a world of abundance. Of the Holy Spirit, who comes on request, and will give me all good things—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. And I close my eyes, and pray, “Come Holy Spirit,” and slowly, mysteriously, magically, I am refilled—just enough–from God’s infinite wells of energy and joy and kindness and bounce.

Oh, we have an abundant God, and we live in an abundant universe, and never let me forget it and settle for merely surviving.

* * *

Cambodia has a per capita income of 78 USD a month, and is one of the world’s poorest countries, according to World Bank data.

And yet what strikes me is the abundance everywhere. Trees full of green mangoes. Jackfruits, bananas, gooseberries, green coconuts, and rambutan growing everywhere, even in the dry season. The giant lakes Tonle Sap and Tonle Batie full of fish and crabs. The soil so fertile that fallen papaya seeds root. Abundant young people everywhere, full of energy and optimism (and giggles). The sweet smiley spirit of the people.

* * *

Just before leaving for Cambodia, Roy and I signed up to run a half-marathon on September 28th   2014 to raise money for our favourite Christian charity working in the Third World. Now, I have been trying to lose weight for 17 months, and have only shed 18 pounds. Loads more to go! Literally. The extra weight I am carrying gives my legs the strength of someone in their seventies or eighties, according to Roy’s running book. Believe me, I believe it!

So I sign up, then ask my friend, David, “Tell me, am I crazy?” And David said, “You would be crazy if you didn’t do something. If you just accepted being overweight. You must now change the way you think of yourself. You must think of yourself as a girl who runs half-marathons. The day I quit smoking, I began thinking of myself as a non-smoker.” I am trying, believe me, I am trying.

* * *

 The Umoja Project Tearfund’s development model begins by asking people what their dreams and resources are. The villagers frequently say they have no resources. But in meeting numerous church members and facilitators over the last few days, we discovered a different picture slowly emerges.

They realise what they do have. They change their self-definition. Yiv Toch who knew how to raise chickens taught the others. Other group members had unused land. They pooled small amounts together to buy seeds for a community vegetable garden, and poultry to share. Those with a bit of English teach the smaller fry.

We spent a day in Pastor Te Pich’s church, and even dug in a field. The earth was more fertile and easier to dig than Oxford’s clayey soil, but I must admit I am no better at agriculture and hard labour in Cambodia than I am in Oxford! What struck me was the unsimulated joyousness as everyone, men, women and children, dug together in a field, and the field was dug in half an hour. It would have taken Roy hours! And then we ate Cambodian snacks, and played Cambodian games, and all the foreigners lost!!

Tearfund’s Village Integrated Development Project or Umoja is training facilitators to encourage communities to come together to pool money together so that they can borrow from the group in emergencies at 3% rather than from money-lenders at 120%!  This savings and loan group also provides seed money for the community pig, for instance, a source of

much affection and interest to everyone, and for chickens and ducks.

The unused land around the church is intensively planted as a community garden, even children digging around the tomato and chilli plants. The savings group provides the “seed money” for the seeds.

The resources for change come from the community itself, thus rescuing them form the vicious circle of hand-outs and foreign aid, which crush pride, self-respect, self-reliance and creativity.

Cambodia is a country of abundance—fertile soil, beneficent climate, optimistic sweet-spirited people. It is also a country with great corruption at the governmental level, one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

It is even more important then that people develop self-sufficiency and their own parallel non-taxable economies– vegetables, chickens, piggeries, fruit trees, private free schools, so that they survive and, God willing, thrive while their forests are despoiled, their gems and hardwood and minerals shipped away, and their land appropriated by powerful, mighty corporations.

Please help Tearfund help Cambodia’s people develop self-sufficiency.

I have just written my first book of fiction, Francesco—Artist of Florence: The Man who Gave Too Much. It is a children’s story, a lavishly illustrated tale of a Florentine Renaissance artist. Here are some comments from friends who read it,

Simon Cutmore— it is a gem of a book and a beautiful parable and I think could be read by you and old alike.

Jules Middleton—  I love the story! I wanted to read  more! I love the history of Art connections.

Joanna Mitchell— I thought it was lovely – sweet and true and good — – and a bit like one of Francesco’s jewels.

I would like to give it to you as a gift if you give £3 to Tearfund   here by direct debit.

Alternatively, text HOPE TODAY to 70444 to give £3 a month to See For Yourself, Tearfund.  It will be added to your mobile phone bill. Tearfund receives 100% of the money. This subscription service will cost £3.00 per month until you send STOP to 70080.

Just leave me a comment saying you have done so, and  send me your email address at anitaATanitamathias.com and I will email you an e-copy of my newest baby 🙂

 

More from my site

  • Images and Magic Moments  from my trip to Cambodia with TearfundImages and Magic Moments  from my trip to Cambodia with Tearfund
  • “Prosperity Theology” as a Hook for the Gospel: Hanging out with Christians in Cambodia   “Prosperity Theology” as a Hook for the Gospel: Hanging out with Christians in Cambodia
  • On Pol Pot, Cambodia’s Killing Fields, and the Power of an Idea to Transform–or Destroy. (In Cambodia with Tearfund)On Pol Pot, Cambodia’s Killing Fields, and the Power of an Idea to Transform–or Destroy. (In Cambodia with Tearfund)
  • A Day in Cambodian Villages with Tearfund: Thoughts on Poverty, Shalom and Self-SufficiencyA Day in Cambodian Villages with Tearfund: Thoughts on Poverty, Shalom and Self-Sufficiency
  • Growth Happens Outside the Comfort Zone.  (And hello from Pnomh-Penh, CambodiaGrowth Happens Outside the Comfort Zone. (And hello from Pnomh-Penh, Cambodia
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Comments

  1. Rev. Emily Heitzman says

    March 28, 2014 at 5:03 pm

    What a beautiful story of people coming together in community, each sharing his/her own gifts and resources to create more resources for the community to share with one another. This reminds me of one of my favorite childhood stories that always gave me hope: “Stone Soup.” Thank you for this.

    • Anita Mathias says

      March 28, 2014 at 6:30 pm

      Ah, Stone Soup, that is exactly what is was. One rented out land, another borrowed money from the common pot to buy sewing machines, a third taught others how raise chickens, another did people’s make-up beautifully!

  2. Ali says

    March 22, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    thank-you for lifting me out of myself once again. I have made a donation and would love to read your book!

    • Anita Mathias says

      March 23, 2014 at 3:05 am

      Thanks so much, Ali. I will get it sent to you in the next day (or two). In Cambodia for another 2-3 days.Thanks for reading, and donating!

  3. Mollie says

    March 22, 2014 at 5:02 pm

    Oh, how refreshing this post is today for me. I’m living in March and struggling with the pauper spirit again. But my picture of the year is abundance and so I must live it. We have it in the Vine. Thank you for the reminder. My idea today is how God has set eternity in our hearts. I better get writing.

    • Anita Mathias says

      March 23, 2014 at 3:05 am

      Thanks, Mollie! 🙂

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Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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