How to Feel Wealthy No Matter What.

“I’ve got to get out of the rat race.”

Anyone who has ever felt trapped by limited financial resources can relate to this sentiment. Each of us as human beings have a deep desire to feel safe, secure, and well-supplied. In a material world, money is a helpful tool to achieve certain goals. Yet there is a way to achieve the feeling of abundance we desire, regardless of our present money circumstances.

Not only meditation and prayer, although those are certainly powerful avenues to the Divine. Today I’ve got a very practical, action-oriented way for you to feel wealthy beyond your current circumstances.

Rather than just tell you what it is, here is a story to show you this power in action…

The plain white envelope

The 405 freeway north from Long Beach to Playa del Rey California can be a surprisingly good place for spiritual discovery.

In the summer of 2004, I was returning home after visiting my long-time spiritual counseling client, let’s call her Faith, in her home in Long Beach. A beautiful senior citizen with a deep history of studying and practicing metaphysical teaching, Faith usually taught me, a young ministerial student, as much as I felt I was giving her.

At the end of our session, she gives me a plain white envelope, and with a sparkle in her eye, said, “This is for you.” This was not a shock – Faith was a note writer and had given me little thank-you things in the past.

I’d been a professional practitioner for years, and had been a regular spiritual giver, or tither, myself, sharing 10% of all financial good that comes to me by giving to people, institutions and causes that lead me to feel closer to God. And I’d received tithes myself. So I was no stranger to tithing.

But wasn’t it funny that day? I had noticed the envelope on a little side table when I had walked in and had wondered about it. And after Faith handed it to me, without much more conversation, we hugged, and I headed out.

Then I found myself completely stopped in afternoon traffic on the 405. This was long before my smart phone might have beckoned. So I looked over, and on the passenger seat, I saw that envelope. With my eyes more or less on the road (look, my Mom may read this!), I reached over and opened it up.

Holy mackerel! There was a big stack of bills, totaling well into the 4 figures American. It was the largest single gift I had ever received.

And the transformational moment came right then. My very first thought was, “Wow, Faith is prosperous!” No guilt, obligation, concern about my own worthiness. Just so much joy for her—and for me!

This is where the power of tithing shows itself in our lives. More than simply giving to charity, the spiritual practice of tithing is an opportunity for us to experience more of the infinite, loving, generous nature of God each time we give.

Even a single act of tithing can lead us to feel wealthier in that moment. Practiced over time, the rewards of giving lead to a deeply felt sense that we are loved and supplied abundantly.

The amount you give is less important than the act of creating a spiritual habit of intentional giving wherever you feel inspired to do so.

But wait, the story isn’t over…

What makes the big gift from Faith extra wonderful is what happened when I got home. I had literally that week received a big amount of money on the sale of my condo, and I had put a four-figure check in the mail to my dear prayer partner, a longtime generous source of spiritual inspiration to me. That was the biggest tithe I had ever given.

When I got home and got the phone call from my gasping friend, well, we both laughed and cried, and affirmed, “God is so good!”

It’s my deep desire for you to know and feel the connection to the loving, giving, abundant God that has created you in its image and likeness—so you can know that we can’t out-give God. The connection is there regardless of whether you tithe or pray or meditate—these practices celebrate what’s already so.

If you have ever felt even a glimmer of that wholly abundant joyous feeling, I encourage you to activate, refresh or enjoy the spiritual act of tithing to celebrate that Truth!