Enough

 

Last Sunday afternoon, as I sat down to see what the day’s page of “The Little Prince” had to say to me,

I wondered if the message was going to be autobiographical or if it was going to be fiction.

On Friday night, a scathing fictional poem had emerged.

It said:

“You complain and boast

But your heart is empty.

You’re nothing to me.”

I commented to my writing partner, Heidi-The-Librarian, that I hoped I’d never actually have to say those words to anyone!

 

As I reflected on Sunday’s text and let the words float around in my brain,

A poem emerged that is loosely based on life experience.

It said:

“My friend told me that

I, myself, am enough.

I didn’t understand

But I answered, ‘Yes, of course.’

‘You’re beautiful, too,’ (he said).

This time, I said nothing.

And we sat in silence.”

 

Many years ago, Jenny-The-Counselor told me that I was enough,

But I wasn’t healthy enough to understand what she meant.

Having grown up in a faith tradition that taught me that I was nothing but a sinner saved by grace,

I internalized the sinner part of the equation so much that I made damning myself a regular part of my existence.

I always thought that I needed to be and do more.

I didn’t fully understand that I, as a child of God, created in God’s image, saved by God’s love that overcome all darkness and death, was enough.

I didn’t fully understand God’s amazing grace.

 

While I get it now,

It’s still a mind-boggling concept—

This concept of being enough.

And it’s also a mind-boggling concept to think of beauty

As someone who has absolutely no beauty regimen

Other than showering and brushing my teeth :-p.

But beauty is there, too,

As God’s beloved child.

Beauty is something we see as well as something that we feel,

But it’s not something that I talk about much.

 

And so I sit in silence,

Letting “enough,” and “grace,” and “beauty,”

Sink in.

 

Dear God: Speak to us in the silence. Speak words that we need to hear. Let your truths sink in. And let that be enough. Amen.