Beyond optimism or pessimism we have the choice of approaching life coming from a place of scarcity or abundance. Those who come from a place of scarcity in life seem to think of all resources, even the capacity to love, as limited. To them life is a pie that has to be sliced and served in careful proportions so that at least some are fed. The giver is always impoverished.
For those who come from a place of abundance in life, the resources of the day are enough and there is the confidence that there will also be resources for tomorrow. This is especially true with the capacity to love freely.
The abundant life is not necessarily overindulgence. Nor does it mean that one does not invest and save for tomorrow in material things. It means that one does not hold back what is good and needed by others today in order to have tomorrow assured. Often, in fact, the best givers of love and material things are those who have little in the way of possessions.
If grace is unconditional love we can not put conditions on it and still consider it grace. Simple logic. So when we exclude anyone from our love, we no longer are dealing with grace.
How can churches who claim the grace of God as the basis of their belief systems turn around and exclude anyone? When they do so they reveal that they are coming from a place of scarcity. Somehow the idea that God’s grace can be given to only a few seems to coexist with the idea that God loves the world without any recognition of the obvious conflict.
I have found that loving without condition, without exclusion, without fear has returned an abundance of love far deeper than when I came from a place of scarcity.