Last month, the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving Day. Canada celebrated a
few weeks ago, and other countries have their own days but my friends
and colleagues, and the news media, are focused on American holiday last month. The conversation is about gratitude and being thankful especially as the year is running out.
But since I’m a contrary sort of guy, along with gratitude, I’ve been pondering our ambition to have even more. I suspect thanksgiving for what we have and the desire for more actually go together, like opposite sides of the same coin.
Clearly, gratitude is necessary to know joy and abundance. Without gratitude, we tend to focus on what we lack or think we “need,” and we close up. We get “tight” and it’s very hard to see or seize opportunity. When we focus on what we lack, there’s a poverty of spirit, a grasping or fear that makes us small. Gratitude sets us free to laugh and sing and celebrate!
At the same time, there is something wonderfully human about optimism and a desire for “more.” We are ambitious people. Growth and expansion and the desire for riches are part of the human experience. It’s natural to desire and work for a better, richer life.
Remember the Oliver Stone movie, Wallstreet, and Michael Douglas’ famous exclamation that, “Greed is good!”? He argued that greed leads to investment, to study, preparation, hard work and risk-taking. Greed motivates us.
Now obviously, the standard definition of greed is ugly. Usually, we think of greed as a voracious desire to take from others, no matter what the cost or moral consequences. I want no part of that, although like most of us, I admit I see its ugly presence in my life once in a while.
Is there, however, a positive aspect to greed? I suspect so.
Once in a while, we see people who are so caught-up in giving to others that they are unable to receive. While generalities are always dangerous, I’ve seen it most often in women who are so focused on caring for others that they fail to adequately care for themselves. Obviously, this is not gender-specific, but some people even have a hard time graciously accepting praise or a compliment. They feel awkward receiving a prize or accepting a gift.
I often wonder how that holds us back and limits us.
I think of Life trying to give us abundance, trying to offer us wealth and opportunity while we’re so focused on not being “greedy” that we close our hands and refuse the gift. I see that as a false humility, an insult to God and Life. We live in an abundant, beautiful world. We live in a time of unlimited opportunity and endless variety, and yet sometimes in trying to be “grateful” we think small and refuse the richness around us.
Just to be contrary and daring, this Thanksgiving, I encourage you to be grateful for all you have, and to also think in terms of how you will use your wealth to create and contribute even more! As you pause to give thanks, take a moment to review your goals for 2019. Think about what you will DO with all you have! Imagine what’s possible!
This week, pause to give thanks for life, for health and wealth, for loved ones and education and all that surrounds us, but also imagine yourself as a “steward” of these things. Imagine yourself taking care of them, cherishing them, and investing your riches to increase them in 2019 Gratitude is good, but so is “greed”—in the healthy sense of using what we have to create even more for ourselves and others in the future.
We have much to be thankful for. Gratitude is good and right and necessary. But so is the ancient blessing: “May you and your tribe increase in the year ahead!”
But since I’m a contrary sort of guy, along with gratitude, I’ve been pondering our ambition to have even more. I suspect thanksgiving for what we have and the desire for more actually go together, like opposite sides of the same coin.
Clearly, gratitude is necessary to know joy and abundance. Without gratitude, we tend to focus on what we lack or think we “need,” and we close up. We get “tight” and it’s very hard to see or seize opportunity. When we focus on what we lack, there’s a poverty of spirit, a grasping or fear that makes us small. Gratitude sets us free to laugh and sing and celebrate!
At the same time, there is something wonderfully human about optimism and a desire for “more.” We are ambitious people. Growth and expansion and the desire for riches are part of the human experience. It’s natural to desire and work for a better, richer life.
Remember the Oliver Stone movie, Wallstreet, and Michael Douglas’ famous exclamation that, “Greed is good!”? He argued that greed leads to investment, to study, preparation, hard work and risk-taking. Greed motivates us.
Now obviously, the standard definition of greed is ugly. Usually, we think of greed as a voracious desire to take from others, no matter what the cost or moral consequences. I want no part of that, although like most of us, I admit I see its ugly presence in my life once in a while.
Is there, however, a positive aspect to greed? I suspect so.
Once in a while, we see people who are so caught-up in giving to others that they are unable to receive. While generalities are always dangerous, I’ve seen it most often in women who are so focused on caring for others that they fail to adequately care for themselves. Obviously, this is not gender-specific, but some people even have a hard time graciously accepting praise or a compliment. They feel awkward receiving a prize or accepting a gift.
I often wonder how that holds us back and limits us.
I think of Life trying to give us abundance, trying to offer us wealth and opportunity while we’re so focused on not being “greedy” that we close our hands and refuse the gift. I see that as a false humility, an insult to God and Life. We live in an abundant, beautiful world. We live in a time of unlimited opportunity and endless variety, and yet sometimes in trying to be “grateful” we think small and refuse the richness around us.
Just to be contrary and daring, this Thanksgiving, I encourage you to be grateful for all you have, and to also think in terms of how you will use your wealth to create and contribute even more! As you pause to give thanks, take a moment to review your goals for 2019. Think about what you will DO with all you have! Imagine what’s possible!
This week, pause to give thanks for life, for health and wealth, for loved ones and education and all that surrounds us, but also imagine yourself as a “steward” of these things. Imagine yourself taking care of them, cherishing them, and investing your riches to increase them in 2019 Gratitude is good, but so is “greed”—in the healthy sense of using what we have to create even more for ourselves and others in the future.
We have much to be thankful for. Gratitude is good and right and necessary. But so is the ancient blessing: “May you and your tribe increase in the year ahead!”
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