In college, I fell in love with theology.
Not theology as dogma or doctrine — but theology in its simplest, truest meaning.
The study of God and God’s relationship with the created world…
and our relationship with God (or whatever name you give to the Divine Creator).
So much so that I decided to switch majors – from Business to Theology.
My mom wasn’t thrilled.
She was adamant that I needed to make money to pay off my student loans. And a business major would ensure I could get a job.
Not one to give up my dream completely, I took as many theology classes as I could. In fact, I would often say I was both a business and theology major. (It would have been true except I missed a required theology class.)
Whenever I announced this, people would look at me with a puzzled face, saying something like…
“That’s a strange combination.”
I didn’t think so.
I’d tell them,
“Business is about dealing with the realities of life. Theology is what gives life context, meaning, and purpose.”
Little did I know it would take the next 40+ years for me to reclaim that truth —
and to stop living as if money and God didn’t go together.
What I’ve Come to See
After more than three decades as an abundance coach, I’ve come to realize something that feels both obvious and radical.
Any conversation or approach to abundance that does not include our understanding of — and relationship with — God is incomplete and disempowering.
That may sound heavy at first.
But what I’m pointing to is actually very simple.
The Spiritual Fracture We Rarely Question
At the heart of The Abundance Trap™ is a spiritual fracture — a split between the spiritual and the material.
Between God (in heaven) and us (on earth).
Between God and money.
Between the spiritual and the material — including the financial.
Many of us carry images of God — often unconsciously — that shape this split.
A God who judges.
A God who punishes.
A God whose love must be earned.
And alongside that…
Messages about ourselves as…
Flawed…
Unworthy…
Innately sinful.
That we need to earn blessing, love, approval.
Even if we no longer consciously believe these things, they often remain beneath the surface — quietly shaping our lives.
When God Is Separate, Abundance Is Too
If God — the Source of Life — is separate from us, then abundance is separate as well.
Something outside of us that we have to create, achieve, attain.
Abundance — like heaven — becomes a place we have to get to.
A goal to achieve.
Something we have to earn, deserve, and work hard for.
It’s not where we are now.
And when we measure abundance by externals — especially their quantity — this only deepens the divide.
All of this creates fear.
A God who is separate from us — one we cannot fully trust.
Us — disconnected from the Source of Life and Abundance.
And so fear and scarcity — and avoiding it — become the driving forces of our lives.
Even if we don’t realize it.
Even if we think that’s just the way it is.
Despite all of our striving, achieving, accomplishing, and accumulating…
Despite all of our efforts to do MORE, make MORE, have MORE, be MORE…
We are still left with that lingering… sometimes nagging… sense of “not enough.”
Which creates even more pressure, stress, and fear.
Sometimes, in reaction to all of that, we swing the other way —
settling for far less than we truly want or need… convincing ourselves we’re happy.
Different strategies.
Same underlying belief:
“I’m on my own.”
“It’s up to me.”
“I’m not enough.”
“I’m not worthy.”
This is what keeps us firmly in the grip of The Abundance Trap™.
External Results Can’t Heal an Inner Wound
Here’s one of the most important things I’ve learned:
No amount of doing, achieving, or accumulating can ever heal a core wound —
that deep, often unspoken belief that we are not enough… not worthy… not lovable.
We all carry these beliefs in some form — whether we’re aware of them or not.
And while they can feel incredibly real…
While we may have years of “evidence” to support them…
That doesn’t make them true.
At least not at a spiritual level.
These beliefs take root over time — shaped by our experiences and the messages we’ve received about God, ourselves, money, and life.
And because we’re rarely taught how to question them — let alone heal them —
they quietly run the show.
They keep us reaching for “more” as the solution.
More money.
More success.
More impact.
More “goodness.”
Believing that at some point… it will finally be enough.
That it will finally make us enough.
But because these beliefs are not rooted in truth…
Nothing external can resolve them.
A Different Understanding of God… and Abundance
Beneath layers of fear, distortion, and separation, most spiritual traditions point to a very different truth:
That the foundation of this universe is spiritual.
That life originates in a Source that is abundant by nature.
That the Divine is not separate from creation, but present within it.
That we are created in the image of that Source.
Which means…
Abundance is not something layered on top of life.
It is the ground of life itself.
Present in breath.
In growth.
In creativity.
In relationship.
In love.
Abundance is not something we create.
It is something we live inside of — unless we separate ourselves from it.
And even that is an illusion.
We can’t actually separate ourselves from it.
We can only live as if we have.
What It Means to Go Beyond the Abundance TrapTM
Going beyond The Abundance Trap™ doesn’t start with doing more.
It starts with seeing differently.
With gently questioning the images of God we’ve inherited.
With noticing where we’ve separated the spiritual from the material.
With recognizing how habitually we’ve learned to look outside ourselves for proof that we’re enough.
And with opening to a different possibility…
That God is not separate from us.
That abundance is not somewhere else.
That what we’ve been seeking has never actually been missing.
As this spiritual fracture begins to heal… something shifts.
The pressure to prove ourselves softens.
The fear of not being enough loosens its grip.
The constant reaching… begins to quiet.
And in that space…
We begin to experience abundance differently.
Not as something we have to earn.
Or achieve.
Or finally get to.
But as something we are already part of.
Something we receive.
Something we participate in.
Something that flows to us… and through us.
Not because we finally got it right.
But because we’re no longer living as if we’re separate
from the very Source of it.