Not Enough

The morning has been crazy, the kid’s clothes look like they have been hit by a wrinkle round and you are convinced that every hairbrush in the house has mysteriously disappeared.  One kid can’t find a shoe and the other is waving a permission slip in your face while the dog is scratching at the door to go outside.  In an instant, a day that held so much promise a short time ago has left you feeling defeated.  After you get everyone out the door, you take a deep breath and pour a much-needed cup of coffee and open the Facebook app on your phone.

Big mistake!  As you scroll through the feed you see your friends and loved one’s pictures of perfectly groomed children and lovely vacations and you begin to feel like a failure at life.  Instead of feeling joy and happiness for our friends, we get stuck in a cycle of comparison.  We begin to look at life through the lens of what we are lacking, how we don’t quite measure up.  How we are not enough. 

The longer we get stuck in the comparison cycle we begin to believe that we are not enough.  We tell ourselves things like “you will always be a failure”, “you’ll never be good enough”, “why can’t I be like so and so?”, “maybe God made a mistake when he created me.”  But in Galatians 6:4-5 Paul instructs us, “'Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.'”

What would happen if we stopped telling ourselves that we are not enough? What if we replaced the negative dialog with what God so desperately wants us to hear? “You are not alone”, “You are beautifully & wonderfully made”, “In your weakness, I am strong”, “you are loved”, “you are enough”

If we continue to focus on comparing ourselves to others there will never be an end to it. We will never find contentment. There will always be someone with a better home, a nicer car, cleaner kids or whatever the case may be. But if we set our sights on our Father in Heaven, the one who tells us “we are enough”, then the things of this world will no longer hold any power over us. Because God is more than enough.

This Christmas, as we stress ourselves out over the perfect gift, the spectacular meal, and every extra detail, remember that Christmas is about the ultimate gift. The gift of Jesus. Remember that you are enough because of Him. In the end the meal will be eaten and the toys will be forgotten at the bottom of the toy box in a few weeks. But the gift of Christ is eternal and forever. Let Him fill your every emptiness and know in Him, you are always enough.

Side note: How many of us actually take pictures of our sinks piled high with dishes, piles of laundry that need folded or our messy, disheveled kids, because we haven’t done said laundry?  The answer is almost none of us!  Remember that most of us use social media to show the best of ourselves, but it is not a true window into someone else’s life. So, before you compare yourself remember that the new car probably comes with a big car payment, the vacation may have been something they saved for a long time to take, and their kids get messy too.  Don’t get trapped in the comparison game, look past the desires of this world and focus your eyes on Jesus.

Prayer

Father, In the moments when we tell ourselves that we are not enough and when we get stuck in the cycle of comparing our lives to others, remind us that you are all we need.  Remind us that we are not working toward the things of this world, but to spend our eternity with you.  When we tell ourselves that we are weak, unworthy, unlovable, or not enough; fill our hearts with peace and contentment knowing that we are enough in you. 

Fill our discontented hearts with contentment and joy.  Every time we find ourselves caught up in the comparison game remind us of all the many blessing that you have already given us, and the promises for our lives that fill your word.  Father, let us know that in you we are enough.