Enough

 

I am not satisfied, but I am enough. 

 

When that statement appeared on my blackout poem page yesterday, I knew that something profound had emerged. 

 

There is a restlessness in modern America society that wants us to be more: more wealthy, more beautiful, more successful, to have more likes. 

 

There is this feeling in modern American Christianity that we should never be content. I have even heard it said that when we are content in our relationship with God then we are complacent. That we need to do something different to get ourselves out of comfort. That we need to take a leap of faith.

 

I’m coming to believe that both of these sentiments are wrong.

 

When we constantly strive for more, there is a sense of urgency and competition that creates unneeded stress.

 

When we do not feel that we can be content with God, there is a sense of restlessness and damnation that leads to wonder why we should even try to please a God who cannot be pleased. 

 

No, we do not want to be apathetic about our lives. But we also don’t want to be so ill-at-ease that we cannot find peace. 

 

And so. We must realize that we, at our core, through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, are enough.

 

Yes, there is room to grow. There will always be room to grow. But when we think of life as an organic process that happens naturally in time, then it changes the urgency and competition and restlessness and damnation, and turns them into something beautiful. Like a plant growing its flowers. Natural. Gradual. Steady.

 

Yes, there is room for a deepening understanding of the Love of God and how that Love transforms us. There is room to grow in the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faifhfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and there is room to grow in our understanding of justice and mercy. 

 

But even if we don’t. Even if we stay as we are, doing the best we can with what we have, then we are still enough. 

 

We are still created in the image of God, redeemed by the life and death of Jesus Christ, and so very, very loved as God’s child. 

 

Even Judas. 

 

Even Peter. 

 

Even me. 

 

I am not satisfied, but I am enough. 

 

Amen.