Enough Plus
If you look for it, wait for it, you will see it. Out of the stress and uncertainty of the world and of any crisis, you will find people will do extraordinary things. Things that are beyond their typical behavior.
On March 15th, 2020 the news broke. Italians had found an interesting and inspiring action to encourage people in homes and passing on the streets. They sang. Spontaneously and creatively they sang their national anthem. To get a glimpse of the event click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNxhSe4TiOQ.
You will see people of all ages singing on their balconies with many using improvised utensils to accompany their voices. Individuals were seen dancing in the street as well as many other people with cell phones in hand grabbing by video a record of the unprecedented movement.
Although this is fun and delightful and it speaks to the resiliency of the human spirit, it is short lived. When the singing stops, it’s back to reality and the stress of the day.
There is nothing wrong with temporary diversions. They are good and they help us cope with whatever is going on in our lives and around us. However when the singing and the music stops, we are still left to make our way on our own.
What if this could be changed? What if when we experience temporary diversions of the day, we continue to have hope and peace and resiliency that lasts?
This is what living in the spirit of enough plus is all about. It is experiencing the hope and peace that only is available to us through the love of God who gave us Christ Jesus.
What makes this hope different from everything else in the world?
One word – life.
He created it.
He gave it.
He loves us.
It’s the hope that comes from the God of the universe and the creator of life – your life, my life, everyone’s life.
When this god speaks, we need to listen. When this god makes a promise, it can be trusted. When this god loves, it’s beyond our imagination.
These are words from God for us:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11
He has plans to:
Prosper us.
Give us hope.
Give us a future.
What else can possibly be more than enough? These are plans and a prosperous life that is in the world but not of this world. We may get sick, we may loose jobs, we may have failed relationships, we may have financial insecurity, or a plethora of other challenges.
What we are promised is a life of significance in the Kingdom of God.
The Apostle Paul lived quite the life. He went from persecuting and killing Christians to becoming one of the key leaders in spreading the Gospel of Christ. He then became the one persecuted and the one people want to kill. But yet, the following words are an example of Paul insight of hope, joy and peace available to us in the same way there were available to whom Paul was speaking:
JW