Enough as an antidote
How was your Thanksgiving week?
For us, it really did feel different than years past. We gathered with family over Zoom and Facetime, met in a park for turkey sandwiches and had lots of quality time with our little family of four. While I was grateful for our health, connection and food on the table, I was also sad to not be together in person.
As I listened to the stories of loved ones and family members, I heard themes of hardship, loss, exhaustion and uncertainty. For all of us, there is deep longing for what was as we wait for what is to come. And our belief in what is to come is the muscle called hope. I believe we strengthen it through using it, and we've had a lot of practice this year! We've had to practice flexing hope even when our circumstances say otherwise because our God is faithful.
As I continue to sit in this strange not-yet-space, I was reminded:
"The opposite of scarcity is not abundance.
The opposite of scarcity is enough."
Over the past year where things have felt scarce, I’ve caught myself becoming afraid and I wonder if it’s because I've begun to define abundance as more instead of as enough-ness.
In a culture that tells us that more is the way to happiness... more power, success, money, things... Something shifts in me when I hear the word enough.
Enough allows my heart to nod and say yes, enough is what I desire.
It means I have what I need today, I’m cared for and seen. We see countless times throughout Scripture where God’s people are given enough: manna & water in the dessert, loaves & fish for the meal at hand. Tomorrow has not yet come, but for today, God provides His people with what they need.
This is the deep desire of my heart. That those whom I love, my family and the world have enough...enough love, resources, care, protection and grace.
This past week I began to search for moments of enough-ness as an antidote to scarcity and evidence of abundance.Maybe you could write your own list, and reply in the comments to share with me? Let us collectively remind our hearts that our God is faithful, and if we look deep enough, there is always enough.
I'v found...
My children’s eyes
Pumpkin pie and turkey legs
My husband noticing the little desire of my heart to read by the fire- and making it happen!
A good laugh
The blue crisp sky
A candle and quiet prayer
Tuesday morning Zoom yoga with YOU! (If you'd like to try - click here to sign up!)
Scripture promises us that Jesus is the living water - the well-spring of love - that never runs dry. If you feel spiritually dry, emotionally drained, physically tired or that your world is lacking, may Christ meet you and fill you with what you need for the day at hand. With just enough.
I've begun engaging with a spiritual practice that helps me to review, examine and discover God's movement throughout my day and it helped me discover these moments of enough-ness.
I've loved it so much, that I recorded the prayer for you to experience for yourself!
The 5 Steps are:
1. Acknowledge God’s presence & give thanks.
2. Review yesterday and identify the most life-giving moment.
3. Pause and notice the most difficult moment of yesterday.
4. Face your sorrows & shortcomings in grace, asking for forgiveness where needed.
5. Look toward the day to come, with God.
I pray that you can find moments of enough-ness right before you today. And may we remember that love, hope and faith are not scarce and will never run out.
May your heart overflow, through the ever-persistent love of Christ, in the spaces that feel most dry.
Blessings,
Devany