I Want A New ____

Covetousness is often the door we open, that leads to suffering, especially the suffering of others. God gives abundantly, but true abundance is swallowed by the presence of covetousness; the more we desire intently anything other than the all for all, the more scarcity we create.

Abundance is to be accepted, not taken by force. And no one takes by force if he trusts that his needs and his desires will be met; that is faith. There's a time for abundance, and there's a time for scarcity, and as the faithful seeks the well being of all, he rejoices in the scarcity willingly as he knows it is necessary as long as there is ill-conceived gain. It is not that there is not enough for abundance, it is that we create a distortion in the physical realm when in our spirit we worship anything other than God. To experience consuming desire, I must first believe that I do not have *enough* of the object of my desire; I must thus believe that God is cheating me out of some thing that is rightfully mine; I must also believe that God's allocation in the present is misguided and incorrect, and that this is a situation I can correct in my own power. It is iniquity because I set myself up as God, a lord over my world that is disconnected from others; it is idolatry because I do so because I have accepted a lie that gain I seek is to be treasured more than the perfection that already is.

There is nothing wrong with this moment. Why does it need a reallocation? Why do I think I need more? Why do I desire more? Do I ever have enough?

No, no, lust is never satisified; it is never enough. Thus it is degenerative, because it consumes. It is to desire to heap to one's self more and more of some thing, but it does not realize that it is destructive to self to take more than what is given; it destroys the perfect balance that already is in each moment. It starves one soul and fattens another until it is a horribly distorted shape of greedy excess.

I am scared and frightened when I see violence in the world, when I see starvation of children, rape of the weak ones, and exploitation of peoples. But what do I do? I laugh at my big box of funny people dancing and singing, and I revel in my excesses! They're fun, they're entertaining; my soul is filled with laughter! I cannot help that the children are dying! Am I my brother's keeper?

So there is imbalance. What do I do? If I have two coats, give one to someone who needs a coat; why do I need two coats? Seek God, and be willing to give away anything at any moment. Anything. Everything is conquered by love, and love is the total giving of yourself for all. "Take up your cross and follow me," for loving is to take the burden of another and to bear it up as one's own. To love in this day is to necessarily suffer, not because love is inherently sorrowful, indeed quite the opposite, but because there *already exists* suffering of others in this world, to love is to share in that suffering, to take some of it away from another so that it is not disproportionately borne. It is a corrective reallocation that is necessary because of a prior lust that resulted in the current misallocation.

So there is someone who wantonly takes what he desires from another; now, there is suffering. Then, along comes a lover, who shares the burden of suffering, who brings healing.

Watch for it! In the present moment, there is an opportunity to love; for though we live in a disconnected, broken world, there are infinite opportunities to re-connect it and heal it, in the eternal present. We can smile at someone, compliment someone, listen to someone, care in the little ways. A minor incovenience to our comfort is a small price to pay to love. Is there someone else uncomfortable? Then, we should be still and listen, and know that a God who loves ALL is whispering to anyone who loves all, a way to bring comfort and healing, in that moment.