Leadership: Abundant Life
He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing. St. Augustine
Gregg’s Reflection
Some years ago, as I read the New Testament, I stumbled upon John 10:10, where Jesus says,
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
That verse resonated deeply. I realized I had seen many people over the years who were regular church attendees, but did not seem to live an abundant life. In fact, many lived in a world of scarcity, where life is a zero-sum game and I cannot win unless you lose. In that world view, anything we do to address the challenges of the least, the last and the lost comes at my expense.
I was inspired to live life abundantly, with a grateful heart. Since then I have learned there is an unlimited and unmerited flow grace and love that can carry us through all the ups and downs of life. In my coaching life, I have found that unhealed wounds and scars can restrict the flow of love and grace into our lives. This illustrates the condition:
Richard Rohr tells us,
Grace, like water, seeks the lowest place and there it pools.
This quote shows God’s preference for those who are downtrodden in life, those who are ignored and forgotten. I find many who have not reached a place where they can believe they are the beloved of God. I lived in that place myself for decades. When theology focuses on our fallen condition and ignores that we were made in the image of God, it is easy to see a Judgmental rather than a Compassionate, Loving God. Rohr tells us that we must open the hatch at both ends for love and grace to flow through us and touch others. We can only love others as we have allowed God to love us.
When I studied with Robert Fritz, he liked to say people are either learners or they are performers. In my structural coaching, I have found that performers live with a powerful limitation. This image articulates the limitation.
Many people attempt to live up to an ideal: Living a Worthy Life. Since we are imperfect beings, those attempts inevitably fall short, leaving a legacy of shame.
Those who are learners understand a simple fact, when we try to learn new things we will fail before we succeed. My spiritual director, Mark Ritchie, helped me learn this lesson. Early in our relationship, when I would recount a failure, he would ask me, “What did you learn from this failure?” After I recounted what I had learned by contemplating the failure, he would ask, “Was the learning worth the pain you endured?” Inevitably my answer was yes. These interactions helped cement my desire to be a lifelong learner.
What I encountered in my coaching with performers, I found them living life in what I came to call the Safe Zone where they can look like a maestro. This is the life we are capable of living in our own strength. Any attempt to move beyond this was the Danger Zone where I would look like an imposter for not having yet mastered a new learning.
I use this image to illustrate that while we are not capable of proving ourselves to God by living the Worthy Life, we are able to live an Abundant Life empowered by God. And, that life will be beyond anything we could imagine.
When I suffered my biggest failure, I got a call from a pastor friend, Steve Cockram, who told me this story. “At the time of my greatest ministry failure, Mike Breen told me, ‘Die to it well my friend, and God will resurrect something beyond your wildest dreams.’” He went on to tell me, “Crucifixion is painful because it is public and humiliating, but die to it well, my friend.” That was profound advice, which I have shared with many coaching clients when they had encountered failure.
So, my invitation to you is to let go of the idea that you can live the worthy life in your own strength, and when you die to that notion, you can live into the abundant life empowered by God. Blessings
Journaling Prompts
Where in your life do you sense the flow of grace being restricted? What old wounds or voices block God’s love? Do you operate more like a performer or a learner? What would it look like to release the need to prove yourself? Have you experienced a crucifixion moment in your story—a loss, failure, or exposure? How might God want to resurrect something from it? What would it mean for you to stop chasing the “worthy life” and start living the abundant life offered by grace?
Scripture
My cup overflows.
Psalm 23:5
Give, and it will be given to you…
Luke 6:38
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness.
Galatians 5:22-23
I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11–13
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,
Ephesians 3:20
Ancient Writing
He who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing.
St. Augustine, Sermon 105, On the Words of the Gospel of John
God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them.
St. Augustine, Sermon 56, On the New Testament
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
St. Augustine, Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1
The soul that is quick to turn to created things is slow to turn to God; but when it turns to God, it receives in return more than it has ever given up.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, Sermon 1
The one who has discovered the joy of the Lord no longer looks for joy elsewhere.
St. Basil the Great, Homily on Psalm 1
Do not say, “I have nothing,” for you have the treasure of God within you.
St. Macarius the Great, Homilies, Homily 17
The more you empty yourself for love, the more God fills you with Himself.
St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, Chapter 134
The glory of God is a human being fully alive.
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 20
Let us run to enter into the joy of our Lord. Let us become heavenly, let us become Christlike. For Christ became man that we might become God.
St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Section 54
Nothing is more cheerful than the person who has received the grace of making spiritual progress.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians 1:18–26
To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing.
To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing.
To come to the knowledge you have not,
you must go by a way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not,
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not,
you must go by a way in which you are not.
If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on,
he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.
John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Chapter 16.
Modern Writings
Lord, that I might see you in this and every passing moment of my life.
James Finley, Healing Path, p. xii
Grace, like water, seeks the lowest place and there it pools.
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
We eventually love others as we have allowed God to love us.
Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs
You have to open the hatch at both ends. Grace must be received and given.
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now
The great spiritual task facing me is to so fully trust that I belong to God that I can be free in the world.
Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
The abundance of God to our lives is not passively received; it is actively entered into.
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
Performers live with the constant pressure to look like they’ve already arrived.
Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life
You can’t practice compassion with other people if you can’t treat yourself kindly.
Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
Die to it well, my friend, and God will resurrect something beyond your wildest dreams.
Mike Breen, quoted by Steve Cockram