Enough

Birds always seem to have enough.

When do we have enough? I was sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning while my husband was paying the bills. He was commenting about having enough left over to live on. I found myself praying once again, about money. We always have enough, but rarely any extra. For some reason, the story of manna and the Israelites kept popping into my head. I decided to go and look it up.

I hadn’t read the story in a long time and I found the details fascinating.  In Exodus 16, God tells Moses that he is going to rain down food from heaven. The people are to gather up as much food as they need for the day. He tells Moses that he will test the people on this. Of course, being humans and doing what humans do, there are some who break the rules and gather more than they need. In the morning, it has a terrible stench and is filled with maggots. Yuck! Verse 18 tells us that everyone had just enough, no leftovers.

This idea of enough really got me to thinking. When do we have enough? If I have plenty to eat at every meal, is that enough? If I have clothes and shoes to wear each day, is that enough? I really struggle with that one. I always long for a new wardrobe when the seasons change, but as I am doing my family’s laundry, I can never find enough hangers for the clothes I have. Surely, I have enough. What about cars and electronic gadgets? If I have a reliable vehicle to pick my kids up from school with, does it need to be new and shiny? What about my cell phone? Does is really need to be “smart” or will something to make and take calls suffice?

I could go on indefinitely about the many material blessings I have been given. Still, I often find myself longing for more. Maybe it’s my nature or maybe it’s because our fallen world teaches us we never have enough. Maybe it’s a little of both. Either way, I always find instruction when I go back to the Bible. God’s command to the Israelites, was to take as much as they needed, not as much as they wanted. Uhoh! I think I have some work to do.

My granddaddy always said,  “You are old enough, where your wants won’t hurt you.” I never liked that phrase, however, I think he was onto something. He was paraphrasing God’s command to the Israelites. I think I really need to work on my wants versus my needs. How about you? How do you do with wants and needs? How much is enough? Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂