Living in all cirmcumstances

By Mia Pohlman

Last Sunday the Gospel reading was from Philippians 4:12-13 (NAB). In these verses Paul writes, "I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me."

Before, when I've read these verses, I've usually focused on the "humble circumstances" part, and the fact that God will strengthen us when we feel like we don't have enough. This time, however, the fact that Paul knows "how to live with abundance" caught my attention. I think about needing God to provide in times of need, but rarely do I think about his provision in times of abundance.

Even in abundance -- and perhaps even more so -- I am needy and dependent upon God for the strength to live with grace, love and faithfulness.

Sometimes I think it can be easy to check out of our own lives. I think this can be easier when we're living in abundance. Or, if not in abundance, when things are "fine." The in-between of abundance and poverty. When life is the day-to-day. I think it can become easy to think that a certain part of our life, as Joan Didion writes in her essay "Goodbye to All That" about the eight years she lived in New York, doesn't "count." But, as Didion eventually finds, it does count. This is our life, and every single part of it can be purposeful if we let it be.

While I was praying, one phrase came to mind: Live into it. Into the sadness, the joy, the hardship, the contentment. Into the answers, the questions, the familiar, the change. Into the abundance, the poverty, and the in-between. We get one life. And no matter where we are or what part of it we're at, we've been given it to know our God more deeply, in ways that we can only learn from the circumstances in which we're currently being taught.

So, live into it. Whatever "it" is. And bring Jesus with you. Or maybe it's not so much about bringing Jesus with us as it is about realizing he's already here, and opening ourselves up to him and his presence. Opening ourselves up to living in, with, and through him, and letting him live in, with, and through us.

Paul goes on to write in verse 19, "My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." So, when life feels abundant, when it feels scarce, when it feels hum-drum in-between, let us pray for what we need. Let us pray for beauty, for wonder and awe, and to realize God in all the places we wouldn't normally notice on our own. This will be the secret. And God will fully supply.