Culturally I was brought up to see myself as an active agent within a largely passive universe: A mechanist view wherein I make decisions and the universe receives those decisions. In this view, when I read that I am “created rich”, I naturally think of that richness as belonging to me, or being an attribute of my own that I have somehow failed to realize.
Instead, I think that we exist within a spiritual dynamic – a universe that is as alive with Spirit as my own spirit enlivens my body. In this view, what seems to be my “flea” nature becomes an “eagle” when I stand in right relation to my Lord. Just as a garden might be filled with color, yet until the sun gives its light there is no variety visible. Such a notion of richness implies that I exist within the reality of this relationship with God, in which is infinite bounty and potentiality. It’s only when I rest on self alone that I can see myself as poor and of little account.