Enough

Mine
Jeremiah 39:1-40:16

"But Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, left some of the poorest people of Judah behind. They owned nothing, but that day he gave them vineyards and fields." (Jeremiah 39:10)

"The last shall be first" idea is common throughout the Bible, and sometimes I really wish we could somehow reinstate the year of Jubilee. It's both disheartening and hopeful to think that we live in a world that can afford everyone's needs but not everyone's wants. There is enough food, enough land for what we all need. How long, O Lord, until we get it right? This verse also makes me question what was happening here. How many of these people simply didn't have the right to own land? How many of these people had their own land taken from them from the government? (It reminds me of many land right struggles in Guatemala.) And yet, we should always all remember that our paychecks, our homes, right down to our shoes... all we have is simple "on loan" to us, precious gifts from God to be shared with our brothers and sisters.

Hope
Psalm 119:81-88

"I am weak from waiting for you to save me, but I hope in your word." (Psalm 119:81)

Hope is no longer used in the sense of complete trust and faith- to hope in something or someone to save and help you. Yet to me it is a beautiful phrase- it seems to combine both physical (waiting) and spiritual (trusting) aspects of the sentiment. When I was in Brazil, I was paid in US dollars. We're all familiar with the state of our economy, and this means that by the time I left Brazil, I was earning 1/3 of what I had been earning at the beginning. Yet, this led me to hope in God, in my community who loved and supported me... generously giving me more than I needed and certainly more than I deserved.

Needs
1 Timothy 6:3-21

"We brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out. But, if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that." (1 Timothy 6:7-8)

From a very early age, I remember startling my friends by asking, "Do you need it? Or do you want it?" This was the question I learned from my parents which taught me that my needs are relatively few (and all satisfied)... and this diminished the importance and quantity of my wants. How difficult to live in a world with a philosophy of "more, more, more" and where children aren't taught to grow up and live conscious of the fact that we are blessed to have more than what we need (food, clothes, shelther)... and even this, we will leave behind.