Blessed Are the Spiraling: 7-Days to Finding True Significance When Life Sends You SpiralingSample

Leave No Claw Marks

On a run in San Diego, I passed a mansion by the golf course, steps from the beach, modern, sun-soaked, everything you’d dream of on a freezing Montana day. And the thought came: If this were mine, how hard would it be to leave? Would I leave claw marks on the doorframe when it was time to go?

That’s the question:How tightly are you holding what you can’t keep? And how much of your spiraling is tied to that grip—your fear of losing status, comfort, or the life you thought would finally prove you matter? We don’t just chase stuff; we chase significance, and when the numbers don’t add up the way we hoped, our souls start to spin.

One day, no matter how much you’ve acquired or accomplished, a different piece of paper will override all your titles and deeds: a death certificate. No house, car, platform, savings account, or shoe collection is following you into eternity. As the old saying goes, you never see a hearse pulling a U-haul.

Jesus told a story about a man who nailed earthly success and completely missed eternal significance. He tore down his barns to build bigger ones, convinced he had finally arrived: “You’ve got it made. Take it easy.” God’s response? “Fool! Tonight, your soul is required of you.” The problem wasn’t that he had a harvest; it’s that he had no vision beyond himself.

That’s the danger of a significance spiral: we keep building bigger “barns”—houses, careers, followings, retirement accounts—hoping the next upgrade will finally quiet the ache. But it never does. The more we clutch, the more anxious we become, because deep down we know we’re clinging to smoke.

Scripture doesn’t shame people for having wealth. The issue is what has you. You can be rich and deeply generous or broke and deeply greedy. You can be poor and content, or wealthy and ruled by fear. The kingdom question is never, “How much do you have?” but “How lightly can you hold it? How freely can you give it?”

The solution is generosity. Generosity breaks the illusion of ownership. It trains your heart to remember: I’m a steward, not an owner. What I keep, I lose; what I give, I keep forever. When you live that way, death becomes less of a terrifying loss and more of a transition, because your heart has already been moving toward heaven through your treasure.

Prayer:
Lord, I don’t want to reach the end of my life with claw marks on everything You asked me to hold loosely. Loosen my grip. Teach me to trust You more than I trust money, status, or comfort. Make me rich in good works, ready to give, and willing to share. Amen.

Today:
Pick one concrete act of generosity that actually costs you something—financially, emotionally, or in time. Give anonymously if you can. As you do it, consciously tell God: “This is Yours anyway. I’m just returning it.”