Myth of Scarcity

Importance is relative; as the song says "To one lost sheep, a shepherd boy is greater than the richest king."  A hummingbird nailed this point home to me the other day as I hung out on the back deck with my parents, when the little guy came to drink at our feeder and was disappointed to find the feeder broken and unable to hold the sweet nectar it craved,  I kid you not, this hummingbird hovered for two seconds looking mournfully at me before heading off.

To that hummingbird, I am a godlike figure, with the ability to, at a whim, supply all needs.  He shelters in my maple tree, bathes in my birdbath, and finds plentiful food through the provident natural setting my wife provides.  It should come as no surprise that the next day I purchased a new hummingbird feeder and set it out.  Alex and I get a lot of enjoyment watching him and the other birds in our yard, but recently I've noticed some disturbing behavior.

That hummingbird is a jerk.  He's a cute little fella, but he has a cruel heart.  Whenever the other hummingbirds come by to get a drink, he chases them off.  The feeder contains tenfold his body weight in nectar, but the greedy little brat insists of hoarding it all to himself.

I have spoken before about setting my domain up as a place of justice and peace, where all creatures may find respite.  I am now confronted with the evil deviance of the very creatures my heart takes such delight in, that hummingbird has greatly displeased his divine sovereign the same way the stupid neighborhood cats incur my wrath anytime they disturb my gentle birds.

Oh, that the little bird could understand that my riches are infinite, his deity shall not run out of sugar and water.  All of his needs would be supplied according to my riches.  As it is, his mentality of scarcity almost guarantee that as he ages, some new bully shall arise and dethrone him from his haughty heights, and so shall he be separated from the blessings of my feeder, which I shall call Zion.

Sound allegorical?  I read a daily devotional from a man named Skye Jethani every day, and he recently mentioned a fascinating article called The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity.  I would highly recommend the article, but the basic thesis is that God created a world of great abundance, and if we shared, there would be enough for all.

That might be difficult to believe, and certainly you will find no shortage of people telling you how naive that notion is.  Sad thing is, many of those voices claim they speak for the one who multiplied the fish and the loaves, who fed the nation of Israel with manna from heaven, who decreed that the jar of oil would never empty during the famine.  But the more I learn, the more I believe that much of the scarcity in our world is a direct result of human greed, every bit as vile as that brat of a hummingbird.

Alex and I recently went to a talk at our church about the refugee crisis.  About one person in a hundred alive on planet earth today have been forcefully removed from their home due to famine, war, or persecution.  One person in a graduating class; one person in a church congregation.  What to do about it is not a straightforward question, but one year after a major tax break, most of which flowed to people least in need of it, the prognosticators will tell you these displaced people will eat up our benefits and ruin our country if allowed in.  We look at the hungry and see safety threats, we have split up families in an effort to staunch the flow of human suffering to our borders, and then we cite holy scripture to justify it.

Dear reader, I pray that this is not your attitude.  Don't give ear to the fearmonger.  If you are so moved, contact your Congressman and let him know you are not okay with the policies of our country.  Let us guard ourselves, lest we incur the sort of wrath that little hummingbird has brought on himself.  We are accountable to a much higher diety, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Omnia Vincit Amour.