Leadership Thought: Let’s Be Rivers and Not Reservoirs

Dear Friends,

Do you have a scarcity mindset, always fearing your giving will never leave you with enough for yourself?

For the past forty years Eunice Pike has worked with the Mazatec Indians in south-western Mexico. During this time, she has discovered some interesting things about these beautiful people. For instance, the people seldom wish someone well. Not only that, but they are also hesitant to teach one another or to share the gospel with  each other. If asked, "Who taught you to bake bread?" the village baker answers, "I just know," meaning he has acquired the knowledge without anyone's help. Eunice says this odd behavior stems from the Indian's concept of "limited good." They believe there is only so much good, so much knowledge, so much love to go around. To teach another means you might drain yourself of knowledge. To love a second child means you have to love the first child less. To wish someone well--"Have a good day"--means you have just given away some of your own happiness, which cannot be reacquired. Bernie May, "Learning to Trust," Multnomah Press, 1985.

Many go through life like these Indians. They hold on tightly to their resources for fear that one day they will run out.

They have never learned that whenever you give freely of yourself,  you will always receive more than you could ever give.

Some people travel through life with a scarcity mindset, they clench on to what they possess for fear, that like those Indians, they will run out one day.

When we hold on tightly to everything we possess, we won’t lose anything, but it’s also true that we won’t make room to receive anything either.

If our lives are to be meaningful, we must learn the lesson that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and that an open heart will open hands to freely share their abundance with others.

We are meant to be a river, not a reservoir. A reservoir stores up water while a river flows freely providing resources for those in its path.

If we are a river and not a reservoir, people will know that flowing toward them will be something that will make their lives better.

John Maxwell reminds us that “God will only give to you what He knows will flow through you.”

I have been fortunate to know people  whose generosity has blessed me and blessed the lives of others.

If there is a need for money, they can be counted on to provide it. If someone is in trouble and needs a place to stay, their front door is always open. If there is a need for some service, they are ready and available to share their expertise.

These are people with an abundance mindset who know they will never run out of God’s resources.

I love the lesson the great saint Corrie Ten Boom once taught on giving. She said, “I’ve learned to hold on loosely to the things the Lord has placed in my hands, lest I feel the pain of His having to pry open my fingers to extract the gifts He wants to use for others.”

May you and I always be rivers of love, generosity flowing to and through the lives of others knowing as Charles Swindoll reminds us “We are  never more like God than when we give.”

Yours in faith,

Tom