My financial situation looked dire. Some work that had made up a substantial portion of my income was unexpectedly discontinued, and it didn’t seem possible that I could live much longer on what was in my bank account. Then a simple inspiration led to a shift in thought that began to turn things around. 

One morning during this anxious time, I was driving while listening to a radio interview with the American writer Annie Dillard. She was talking about her new book of essays that had just come out, The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New. When the interviewer asked how she had chosen that title, she spoke about feeling that her writing was a gift she should give the world. She mentioned a quote that was in the front of the book, part of a verse from the Quran: “They will question thee concerning what they should expend. Say: The Abundance.” An included essay from her book The Writing Life says: “One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Don’t hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. . . . Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you.” 

I felt I was being called to give generously and trust that my daily needs would be met.