Yesterday, on Christmas Day, I received a shocking text from a friend. Her home, just a mile away, had caught fire on Christmas Eve. As I sat with my family unwrapping gifts of material abundance—gadgets and luxuries that add convenience or excitement—her reality was starkly different. Katie and her young son had lost nearly everything. They didn’t need the latest trendy trinkets; they needed food, winter coats, and shoes. It’s a sobering reminder of what truly defines an abundant life.

What Abundant Living Really Means

Abundance isn’t about having more. It’s about honing our hearts and minds to recognize and cultivate what truly matters—what makes our hearts sing, our bodies flourish, and our minds feel at peace. It’s about choosing to live not in scarcity, where we chase the next thing, but in contentment, where we treasure the soul-fueling presence of moments we could never buy.

Throughout the past year, our weekly focus has been on practicing the ​ROCK thru principles​ to create the foundation for abundant living:

• ​Respect​ the value of every human being.                                                                    
• Take ​Ownership​ of our role and presence in the world.                                                
• Build deep ​Connections​ that sustain us and others.                                                    
• Offer ​Kindness​—generous consideration expressed through action.                              

At any moment, material possessions could disappear. But the attitude and perspective we cultivate through these principles are unshakable.