Enough

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?                                                     Matthew 6:25-27

It was a bit of a lazy day in my part of the world today. I spent a good deal of time by my pond reading, and just watching my goldfish. It was really too hot to do much else.  My fish is a mutt goldfish who has inhabited this pond for at least 8 years. I think the fish, Hardy, is living his/her best life. She is unconcerned with anything as she has no predators (it appears). She happily munches bits of algae and plant aerators for her food, and swims blithely under a refreshing waterfall when she gets a little bored.  

I began to think about the passage cited above, and how we tend to worry about money. I truly understand that many people do not have enough money to subsist adequately, and of course this is no indictment of them.

I do recall early in my own marriage with a young family that we did indeed live paycheck to paycheck. Worry about money was always some part of the picture, but it did not consume my mind.

When I was a kid, our family lived modestly and there was not much extra money to be had. However, we were never really in want, and there did not seem to be a great deal of anxiety about it. Then again, I was a kid, and my parents probably did worry more than I realized.

However, there are many people in our culture who have more than adequate amounts of money. And they still devote their life to getting more. They spend much of their time and energy trying to amass wealth. Much more. Consequently, they cannot have that simple joy of trusting in Jesus for provision. I think that perhaps they do not have the peace that Jesus talked about in just living a simple life.

When John D. Rockefeller was asked “How much money does it take to make a man happy?” His response, “just a little bit more”.

I am thankful for God’s provision. It is enough.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for taking care of our needs, Amen