Abbondanza

David H. Nicastro shared with us an essay he wrote a few years ago on about living abundantly. It happened to be an Easter essay, but the subject matches our theme so we wanted to share it with you. Thanks David.

Abundance
Annual Good Friday Essay
David H. Nicastro, April 14, 2006

I think about abundance a lot. Maybe it is because I always “see the glass half full” – I just don’t believe in the pessimistic scarcity mentality that causes some people to see it half empty. Maybe it is because I never experienced true deprivation; surrounded by plenty, I have never learned to curb my appetites (I have been fat most of my life). But I hope there is more to it than that. I wonder what God thinks about abundance.

The word abundance resonates with me; it has been sort of a theme in my life. And perhaps that world view allowed me to attract into my life the world’s most generous woman, my wife. It is not for nothin’ that Sue and I named our house Abbondanza – Italian for plenty (or, more loosely, abundance). It is a running joke for us whenever we have to make a choice – shopping, or selecting from a menu – why choose? Get both! Abbondanza! After we had been thinking for months what to name our new house, I knew what it had to be as soon as the thought occurred to me. A perfect name for our huge house, reflecting our personalities, promising that our home would have plenty of love, plenty of beauty, plenty of fun, plenty of everything.

I came to this world view naturally – both of my parents are exceedingly generous with their time, money, and love. Growing up, our house was always the one in the neighborhood where the kids came to play. We didn’t have more toys or a nicer house; but the house and supervising parents were welcoming in a unique way. As a parent myself now, I appreciate the degree to which they just let us play. We were indulged: it is significant that we had more pets than anyone else I have ever known – I recall dogs, chinchillas, a rabbit, an armadillo, mice and/or rats, tropical fish, a tortoise, an iguana, a salamander, a newt, several snakes, a pheasant, homing pigeons, a parrot (or was it a parakeet?), chickens, and baby blue jays abandoned in their nests and raised by hand. And there always seemed to be enough money, even when there really wasn’t; those worldly cares that stressed my parents were invisible to us kids.

While I worry that there is a fine line between abundance and gluttony, an interesting observation is that abundance is used throughout the Bible only in a positive sense: abundant blessings, grace, pardon, and wisdom. By comparison, wealth is often negative in the Bible, especially in the Gospels: “You cannot serve God and wealth.”

So God’s abundance is not wealth. In fact, I am beginning to realize that those are opposite concepts – wealth is accumulation, while abundance is the awareness that there is plenty – and faith that there will always be plenty, rendering accumulation unnecessary. Jesus prayed, “give us this day our daily bread,” not “give me enough bread to last forever.” God’s creation has enough of everything for everybody, if only we shared it.

The final time that the word is used in the Bible is the most important: Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Not money, not blessings or wisdom; Life. Abundant life: the opposite of death. Hey, that sounds familiar.

Uh oh; somehow, I just knew this subject would lead me to the cross. I start off wondering about abundance, and end up learning the meaning of Easter. For now I see that my gluttony leads to death; but I am forgiven, and the hope of the resurrection is new abundant life, to be lived after Jesus’ example: the more I give, the more I live. Abbondanza!