Dear One,
You Are Enough.
These words are plastered everywhere: on socks, shirts, bumpers and books.
You Are Enough.
As if trying to convince us it’s true.
But what if it’s not?
What if we’re not?
And what if we’re altogether missing the point?
Enough: adequate to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations
Count me out.
I am clearly not enough.
I don’t even want to be enough.
Let’s just take that burden right off each other, shall we? Please?
Friend, You.Do.Not.Need.To.Be.Enough.
Not by a long shot. This is good news!
I was feeling inadequate the other day, i.e. – not enough; a pervasive feeling of less than, which I don’t particularly like to feel (which might be why I keep propping myself up with all the enough-ness paraphernalia).
Anyway, I was struggling with my inadequacy in writing a sermon so I paused to pray. And that’s when I heard myself say it:
God, would you take it (the less-than sermon) and do what You do with it
and then give it back to me?
I immediately thought of the disciples, the large hungry crowd, the lacking resources, and Jesus.
I heard Jesus tell his disciples to feed the 5,000+ people. I heard the disciples reply:
“But we don’t have enough.“
“Where could we get enough?“
(Matthew 14:17; 15:33)
Enough with the enoughness, already!!! Oh dear disciples (and oh dear me, and maybe you), that’s not what it’s about. Not where the focus is to be. It will only snag you, stop you, or shut you down.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s not about having or being enough. Maybe we’re not asked or expected to be enough. Maybe it’s just about holding out (rather than withholding, holding onto, or just plain hiding) what we have and who we are, regardless of its perceived sufficiency. Maybe this is the offering! Goodness, if I wait to have or be enough, I’ll never make any contributions whatsoever.
So as I prayed about my (not-enough) sermon, holding it up to God, I saw the disciples give Jesus a woefully inadequate amount of food, scrounged from a little boy. Like me, they gave him the not-enough. Jesus then ‘did what he does,’ multiplying the meager to feed the multitude.
Turns out (Not)enough is (more than)enough.
What you have is what you bring and it’s fully acceptable to our King.
(Not)enough is (more than)enough: Our Little Life Words of the week.
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DEEPER DIVE
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Ponder:
- How is being/having not-enough good news?
Practice:
- Offer something to someone this week that is not-enough, but is simply what you have … be it time, practical help, wisdom or finances.
Play:
- Our song of the week is: Give a Little Bit by Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)
Pray:
- Bring something to God that feels lacking in some way. Ask God to “do what God does,” multiplying your meager to feed the multitude.
In 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul brags about the Macedonian people, who, in their not-enoughness, “pleaded for the privilege of participating.”
Paul said to them, “The size of the gift doesn’t matter … your gift is fully acceptable to God according to what you have, not what you don’t have.”
Amen, Paul.
In God’s eyes, (not)enough is (more than)enough.
What you have is what you bring and it’s fully acceptable to our King.