Hey there !
I still remember that Saturday in 1990, right around the 4th of July. I took a long cool shower – yet before I was dressed, I was hot and sweaty all over again. The heat and humidity outside was BRUTAL and my apartment felt like an oven.
It did NOT have air conditioning.
I told myself I was okay with that – it was what I was used to. After all, I didn’t have air conditioning when I was a kid – just big box fans that my mom would put in all the rooms of our house. Back then, when I got hot, I’d lie on the floor in front of a fan and let it blow over me until I cooled down.
But that Saturday in 1990, all I had was ONE small oscillating fan which I carried from room to room trying to keep myself cool – only it wasn’t working. Even standing right in front of the fan – on high-speed – did little to cool me down.
“That does it!” I told myself. “It’s time for me to splurge and go buy a big box fan like mom had.”
Then the phone rang.
It was my dear friend Bob – calling to say hello and see what I was up to that weekend.
I immediately told him of my decision to “break down” and finally by a second fan.
Always one to encourage me, I expected him to say “Good for you!” but all I heard was silence. A full 15 seconds later, he finally spoke…
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“No. I’m going to head to the store this morning and get the biggest fan I can find – a box one like we had growing up.
Again, there was a long pause. Then he said…
“Teresa, for goodness sake! Go buy yourself an AIR CONDITIONER!”
NOW I was the one who was silent – stunned by the idea.
I know, I know – it seems a pretty obvious solution, doesn’t it?
But the thing is – it was NOT obvious to me. Not having an air conditioner when I was a kid, it never occurred to me to buy one. Another FAN, maybe even two? Yes. But an air conditioner? It wasn’t even on my radar screen.
And that, , is what happens to us far too often. At many levels, “abundance” is not even on our radar screen!
We think abundance is getting out of debt, paying our bills on time, making enough to have some money in savings – maybe even with some money left over for “extras” and an occasional treat. And if, like me, you’ve spent many years drowning in debt and working your butt off just to make ends meet, being debt-FREE with money left over feels great! It’s like having TWO fans
instead of one!
But the ABSENCE of debt and lack around money is not the same as abundance – any more than two fans is the same as AIR CONDITIONING!
So today I want to do for you what my friend Bob did for me years ago. I want to open your mind and give yourself permission to have abundance.
, you weren’t created – and given the gift of Life – to just “get by”. Your life is not meant to be only about making money, paying bills, getting out of debt, trying to save enough for retirement. For that matter, you’re not meant to have to wait UNTIL retirement to finally enjoy yourself and your life.
You were created as a unique and wondrous expression of the Divine – on purpose, with purpose. And that purpose does not revolve around making money and paying bills. You were created with unique gifts to share with the world. You were created to be FULLY you, FULLY alive.
It’s time to STOP “being used to” struggle, just getting by or simply having a “little extra”. It’s time for you to stop ignoring your own needs, desires, and dreams just because you have done it that way for so long. It’s time for you to
upgrade your thinking from having two FANS to having AIR CONDITIONING!
Earlier this year, I was given a divine download with a new definition of abundance.
“Abundance is KNOWING (in your body and soul) that you are part of something bigger than you (something more loving, generous, creative, resourceful, powerful, intelligent, infinite) and that you have access to all you need.”
But that’s not the “need” you may equate with just getting by or having a “little extra”, .
Rather, it’s the NEED for you to be the fullest expression of who you were created to be, made in God’s image. It’s about the NEED for you to live a life of freedom and joy through which you unapologetically share the gift of who you are with the world. It’s the need for you to fully be who you are – fully alive.
You have permission to have ALL that you need to be ALL that you were created to be, .
It is as if God is saying to you (and me)…
“Are you KIDDING?”