The Power of Lack

A week or so ago, I was talking to a friend about various things, and one theme that emerged from our discussion was this idea that lack, shortage, challenge - primarily financial in nature - can be a source of great growth and self-discovery. So as we were chatting about various 'lacks' in our respective Universes, my friend used this turn of phrase, "the power of lack" and I realized that in  my life, for all the stuff I have been denied through an absence of disposable income, I have been given so much more.


In my family, we rarely had the latest outfits, but we had all our school books.  An opportunity to be educated = Abundance.  We didn't get a ton of Christmas presents, though we certainly got many, but many Christmases, our grandmother had a Christmas Eve dinner party.  An opportunity to share even the Widow's Mite = Abundance.  Everything on the menu was home made including the menu cards themselves.  I'm sure if I ask my sister, she can find one of the menu cards with the little turkeys Granny made us draw one year.  Every item on the menu was named for a person attending the party.  An opportunity to share one's creativity = Abundance.

Our Granny also insisted on having her lady friends over to tea periodically.  I don't know that there was ever a particular event (no anniversary or other celebration), it was just Granny entertaining her friends.  We rudely referred to these events as "old lady tea parties", but we attended gleefully all the same.  We were required not only to serve but also to be the entertainment.  These were my first (unpaid) gigs as a singer and this gift, the ability to sing for others, which my Granny inculcated, is a gift that keeps on giving abundantly.  My sister and I sang, my cousin recited poetry and Granny and I played duets on the piano. 

We may not have had endless pretty new clothes or fancy shoes aplenty, but there was some serious emotional, personal and spiritual abundance in my home.  Perhaps this is what makes it possible now for us to see only opportunity even in the face of myriad challenges.

The question I have to ask myself now is: was there really any lack?  I'm sure my mother and aunt can list bills that they struggled with and things that they wanted to do for themselves that they were unable to do, but in truth, it would seem that all we had was abundance.  It just goes to show, that once you take your eye of the 'stuff' of life, you can find yourself overwhelmed by how much 'life' you really have.  I know I am, overwhelmed that is, by the abundance in my Universe.