Hidden Scarcity Mindsets

A closer look at well-intended phrases that miss the kingdom mark

I had the unfortunate experience of graduating high school in the year 2010… 

Some of you right now are amazed at how old I am, and some of you are resisting the urge to call me a “whippersnapper.” I’m going to ask all of you to rejoin me–the amount of years that have passed since 2010 isn't quite the point. 

During the three years of high school when I wasn’t a senior, I heard the sounding call of the senior class resounding through the hallways: “OH-SEVEN,” “OH-EIGHT,” “OH-NINE.” Now, this makes me cringe in ways that I’m sure are giving me wrinkles, but my high school self saw these anthems as the epitome of arrival. 

When it was our turn, though, my class was dismayed to realize that our chant couldn’t resemble the nine years that had gone before us. There is no “OH” in two-thousand-and-ten, unless of course you were one of the few that chanted “OH-TEN,” but that was just sad. 

Luckily for us, there was a different anthem gaining much popularity in 2010 that we could shout before making our poor decisions: YOLO.

For those of you who were calling me a whippersnapper earlier, or especially if you’ve somehow avoided mainstream media for the last 20 years, YOLO is a fun acronym for the phrase, “you only live once.”

Technically, it’s a true statement. Of course, Christians love to point to the resurrection to counter its truth, but as far as in this body and in this familiar manner, this out of date phrase is true: we only live once. 

My biggest problem with this statement, though, isn’t its disregard of the mystery of the resurrection, though that remains a big problem. It’s also not that it was generally used to justify morally questionable or life-threatening decisions, although my qualm is directly connected here. 

My biggest problem with “YOLO,” and all of its derivatives, is that it’s covert propaganda for a mindset of anxiety and scarcity.

By proclaiming that we only live once in our decision-making, we are training our neural pathways to believe that time and experiences are scarce—that we better cram it all in and soak it all up lest life pass us by in a boring and meaningless flash. 

YOLO isn’t the only statement like this. There are bucket-loads of phrases we throw at one another that pile on the weight of scarcity—many of them quite socially-acceptable and even church-worthy.

The wolf here might wear sheep’s clothing that sounds like this:

“Life is short!”

“Cherish every moment!”

“Carpe Diem!”

“Don’t blink!”

As we rush and scramble to cherish moments better left forgotten, as we grasp and strive to seize every blessed day before us, the real irony is that we miss more than we hang on to. I’ve talked to mothers who daily drown in a sea of guilt and anxiety because they’re tired, overwhelmed, and are worried they’re missing something. I’ve talked to students who busy themselves with so much activity that they don’t pay attention to who they are or what they really want outside of the noise and hustle. I’ve been the woman chasing the high of activity and importance, while missing the Spirit’s whispers in the depths of my heart. 

The anxious need to grasp, seize, and live life to the absolute fullest actually diminishes our ability to be present to our actual lives and the meaning that lurks in the mundane, boring, or depressing pieces of our lives. We miss God’s presence as we chase the dopamine-hit, the adrenaline rush, or the oxytocin-surge. 

The Bible has much to say about this scarcity mindset, and it’s never given the honor of being associated with the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Instead, the Kingdom of Heaven is associated with rest that comes from faith in an abundant God; with peace that flows from a heart that is fully satisfied in his or her Creator. 

I wonder how much more intentionally we would be able to live if we embraced a mantra that “life is long,” and “God is abundant.” 

Would we, instead of striving to create and extract meaning from the exciting moments, be freed up to experience God in the many small moments we are gifted in this life? Would we let go of an afternoon gone sideways, allow our sick bodies to rest, sleep when we’re tired, and embrace the varied emotional experience common to humanity with full acknowledgement that God has granted us the exact amount of days needed to experience His very present kingdom? 

Would we take time to listen to the Spirit, and find His guidance along our path, rather than rushing to pursuits that were never meant for us? 

Let’s Try It

Take a minute, if you have one (in fact you have 960 of them every day if you sleep for 8 hours), to try this shift in your heart. Think of something that makes you anxious, that makes you feel like time is short, or like you’re somehow “missing it.” How does it change the posture of your heart to do the following:

-Call to mind the abundance of God. Think of Eden-flourishing, and the land following with milk and honey.

-Tell yourself that life is long. Remind yourself that the abundance of God goes before you today and all the days that you have after today.

How does that feel? Can you rest a bit more, open your ears and heart a little wider? What were you missing with the narrow grip you had before? What might God be leading you toward? 

Of course, there’s room in this conversation for words about intentionality, values, focus, and seriousness, and perhaps I’ll write about that side of the coin someday. But for now, in our anxiety-riddled society, I don’t think any of us are at risk of becoming lazy freeloaders. So, try it, friend.

Life is long. Rest in that abundance, and let God lead you from that place of peace.