More Than Enough

In this busy, stressful, competitive world of ours, we are focused on performance. What we do - and how well we do it - defines us. Or so we think anyway. We worry about what our friends, our families, our neighbors, our bosses and a host of other folks think of us.

Thanksgiving is a time when we get to take a breath and realize that God does not judge us on our performance. God loves us simply because we ARE - each of us a unique creation reflecting "the image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26) of our Creator. This is where the heart of our thanksgiving prayer comes from - a realization that God loves us and gifts us with our talents, our livelihoods, our children, our homes, our food, etc simply because God LOVES us.

Two weeks ago in this space, I spoke about the different kinds of prayer. One type of prayer is “Thanks!” Meister Eckhart, a German philosopher who lived during the Middle Ages wrote, “ If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘thank you,’ it would be enough.” Prayers of thanksgiving are the easiest ones to say, yet they are also the easiest ones to forget to say. Our constant pursuit of perfection blinds us to what is already more than “good enough” in our lives. We miss the moments of gratitude as we move from expectation to expectation in our over-full days.

I am guilty of this myself. As I balance the demands of life in the parish with life in the family, I am focus on the next task to be done. Did I get the Chronicle article written? Is the laundry load ready to go into the dryer? Do I have time to return that email before I get my 4th grader launched on his homework? And what are we going to have for dinner? I spend a lot of my time wondering if I will ever get it all done – and if I will get it done well.

And in the doing of all that, I forget to notice what is good in my life – I have work I love, a child overcoming learning disabilities with the help of a wonderful support system, a family to gather around a table that has plenty of good food on it. When I take a moment to give thanks for these blessings, I realize that the world will not end if the laundry isn’t folded and put away at once, that it doesn’t really matter if I send the email now or if I send it an hour later and that the homework will still get done if I take a moment to sit quietly with my son and just enjoy who he is.

God neither expects nor requires perfection. God asks only for grateful hearts sharing love with others. So this Thanksgiving week, stop worrying about whether or not the turkey will be dry or if there will be enough mashed potatoes - come to your Thanksgiving table with a grateful heart. You will not leave empty - and it will be more than enough.

Faithfully,
Elizabeth