“Enough!” (Jan 15-21)

This week in snapshots:

Lived in: Laramie, WY
Reading: The Great Omission (Dallas Willard)
Album: Cities (Anberlin)
Podcast: Bema
Playing: AC Brotherhood
Something I Learned: Near and Far Enemies

Hey there, nerds! How is your new year going?

Statistically, if you were going to give up on your New Year’s resolutions, you did so this week. So let me just drop a quick plug in - don’t give up! Adapt! Adjust! Overcome! We’re about to start a new week, so you have an automatic fresh start to re-evaluate what you want, and keep going.

If I give up on my resolutions, it’ll be this next week because I’m going back to work… and the shift in rhythm might overwhelm my resolve. I’ll let you know how it goes for me - please do let me know how it’s going for you 🙂

Quite against my personal convictions, we sang “Jireh” on Sunday. That started a long conversation this week between me, my community, and Jesus aka “Jehovah Jireh”.

I know what the dictionary says, but when you think of "enough," what's the first thing that you think of? What does it look like?

I have a double-sided vision: on one side is a dark pit in the middle of my yard. No matter how much or how often or what it is you dump into this pit, it never fills and is a hazard to the space. Don’t fall in! You’ll never come out! But make sure you throw something in, or else it might grow bigger and engulf the yard!
"Enough" isn't real, it's just an obvious and troublesome emptiness that is never satisfied.

On the other side of the vision is camping 😂 Picture a backpacking tent set up in the trees, a small fire or jetboil in a clearing being tended by people I love, and mountains all around. "Enough" is as little as a place to sleep, food to eat, a beautiful place to be in, and/or wonderful humans to have it all with.

I get tempted by the pit in my yard all the time. I look at my budget or my pantry or my calendar and all I can see is how it's dwarfed by the darkness and infinity of the pit. It isn't enough for me to have a week's worth of food in my pantry; I need a month! So I pile in a month's worth, and it isn't enough; I need a year! So I pile in a year’s worth, and by the time I do that I have to throw away food from the first week; it isn’t enough!

What is it about today's bread that isn't enough?

I mean. I don't live in my next week or next month or next year, I live right now. I will never be more alive than I am in this very moment. And if I have what I need right now...?

I can choose to say "enough!" to the temptation of the pit, and rest in the enough-ness of God my shepherd, my provider, my comfort, my rest, _fill in the blank here with all your personal favorite names of God_, because He gives us bread every day!

At this particular moment, I'm writing these words. I have just finished a cup of hot tea, and have 3 delicious options I'm weighing for breakfast. There is snow outside (I shoveled once already while it was still dark out) but right now, I am in soft pants and a warm hoodie watching it fall. My roommate's dog is sleeping curled-up on the chair, oblivious to the occasional ravens and rabbits outside our window. 

This is more than enough!

And when I'm tiredly packing up tools at the end of my sixth 12-hour shift in a row next week, I’ll find that moment the same: I have enough, more than enough, of the enoughness of my Father and Shepherd.

I don't know what you are experiencing in your particular moment (feel free to share a glimpse of it?). I don't know if you see “enough” commas on your bank statement or snow in your yard or contacts you trust on your phone -

But right now? 

I hope your eyes see the enough-ness right in front of you today, and are at peace - because you are safely nestled in the hands of a great and loving Father who graciously meets your every need, whether it is great or small, with His enough-ness. (And happily enough, whether or not you believe He is “enough” does not stop Him from taking care of you 😉)

Would love to hear about what "enough" is to you today,

—Beth