What Is Enough?

We are always seeking to better ourselves and our situation. Or at least we are dreaming of it. Wanting it.

I’ll be honest. While I am overall happy with my life and am sure as heck grateful every day for my blessings, my mind is still sucked into the alluring, gravitational pull of upgrades, improvement, and betterment. I’m itching for just a little kitchen makeover and am always thinking I’m just a personal trainer away from toning up my soft stomach. Almost daily I ponder how we will spend and save our tax return money. These thoughts are like an unrest that slowly simmers in your subconscious leading you to believe that just a little more will be enough. But enough for what? And how much is really enough?

For most of us, our plans for contentment flow in and out of our lives like sand through a sieve. We just keep pushing toward the elusive state of happiness. Seeking, searching to fill the gaps, we reach for beauty solutions, decorating projects, social events, and sailing off to a deserted island to lounge in peace on the warm sand under a palm tree.

Here’s the deal though. No matter where you search on earth and no matter how hard you try to sooth your nagging need with tangible, worldly balm, you will only feel the temporary relief of a band aid.

I can’t remember the book it’s from, but I love this quote:

“We try many ways to free ourselves from our entrapment. More money, another job, a new diet. These approaches strive for change from below. Like sheep caught in a thorny bush, the harder we struggle to get out, the more entangled we become.”

I’m not saying that all the palpable or material joys of life should be avoided. But it’s when we covet and chase them to generate happiness that our energy is concentrated on things that will never, ever be enough to satisfy and sustain us.

What is enough? What fills your soul to the point of eternal satiation? God. He fills all things, goes before you and stands behind you, and delivers a perfect love above all else with the power and grace to transform ANYTHING.

You have to give up to fill up. By losing your life, you surrender an empty cup that only God can fill. And that kind of full is overflowing. It’s more than enough.

I’ve decided that when I scrutinize myself in the mirror or dwell on kitchen renovations, I will remind myself it’s time wasted. Instead of pursuing bodily and material band aids, I need to go straight to the source of life, healing, peace, and true happiness. There is need for only one thing. My friend, don’t get stuck in the thorny bush. Strive for and spend time with Jesus Christ. Then you will be full and set free.

Deuteronomy 30:9-10: Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand…for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good…if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.