I am Enough

"You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased." - Mark 1:11

Let's switch our focus to emotional / spiritual health and look at this amazing verse, which is one of my favorite in the Bible. Pastor Gary preached on this passage yesterday, and it touched a chord in my heart. In the past year, through painfully deep soul-searching I have become aware that all of my striving and straining, all of my competitive urges and restlessness, came from the belief that I was not enough. Not enough for God, for my husband, for my parents and siblings, and certainly not enough for my precious children. 

I don't know when this belief originated. I do know that throughout the past year, as my abilities have fallen away one by one, my family and friends have continued to stand by and encourage me. They have loved me through the darkest hours, when my only gift to them was my vulnerability. To them, I was enough. Hours of cuddling with my children, lying with my ear pressed against the rhythmic beat of my husband's heart; these were precious times as well as the only way I could make it through the day. And it was enough. One of my affirmations states "I am enough - I was created to be enough from the beginning." To embrace that concept takes my breath away. What would it mean for my life if I was already enough? What would it mean for our children if they felt like they were enough?

Pastor Gary noted that Jesus got in line with the rest of the penitents and sinners on the day of his baptism. He waited his turn to receive a blessing from his cousin John, and when he did, a voice came from the heavens calling him the beloved child, who had pleased his Father greatly.  We are all that beloved child; we have all pleased God/the universe/the unifying spirit. We came into this world enough, and we have nothing to prove by striving or straining. How much would our world change if we could embrace that truth?