Sharing and sufficiency, greed and emptiness

Sharing and sufficiency, greed and emptiness

It is one of life’s ironies that in generously sharing what we have, we find contentment, yet in greedily grasping for more, we are left empty.

When we share our time, ideas, and resources with others, we discover there is enough to meet our basic needs. We realize that by cooperating and lifting each other up, the whole community thrives. Sharing fulfills our longing for connection and meaning. It opens us to the truth that our welfare is bound up with others. There is sufficiency in living simply and giving freely.

Yet the gnawing hunger of greed drives us to take all we can, believing acquisition will bring happiness. Greed isolates us in a vicious cycle of wanting ever more possessions, money, status. No matter how much we acquire, it’s never enough to fill the hole inside us. Greed treats life as a zero-sum game, where one person’s gain comes at another’s expense. Ironically, in the end, greed leaves us empty and alone, overwhelmed by excess yet unfulfilled.

It is only through sharing life’s essential goodness that we find genuine sufficiency. By giving ourselves, we grow rich in the currency of community and care.

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Matthew 14:13-21. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over– twelve wicker baskets full.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-219: AUGUST 7, 2023]