I am not enough

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Return of the Prodigal Son, c.1660

I am not enough.

This statement seems to be something that many of us believe about ourselves. In fact, our friends Jamie and Donna Winship go so far as to say it's the single most common lie they encounter as they've worked with thousands of people on realizing their true identity.

Enough for what? Might be a good next question. What am I not enough for?

Now different people may answer that question differently, but

underneath I think most of us mean the same thing: "I am not enough to receive love or belonging." Or in other words, "if I want to be loved and belong, I need to... (fill in the blank)

Do more.

Be better.

Sin less.

The lie underneath all of these is the same: if you want to be loved, you have to earn it.

If one of the greatest truths in the universe is that God is Love, then it would make sense that one of the devil's greatest lies is "You are not worthy of that Love." You are not enough.

So he whispers in our ear: "Go ahead, do whatever you can to be good enough, as long as you don't accept Love as a gift freely given to you. As long as you don't accept that while you were still living in sin, Christ died for you. That he thought you were enough even when you didn't think that about yourself."

On our recent men's retreat on Pender Island, one of the guys came up with this breath prayer during his time of solitude:

Breathing in:I am enough for the Father,

Breathing out:The Father is enough for me.

Beautiful. Simple. Truths so profound their transformative impact ripples across a lifetime.

Radical acceptance. Grace. A place at the table.I am enough for the Father.Which leads right into...

Radical surrender. Letting go of ourselves and our desires. Opening ourselves up to daily practicing our own death and resurrection. The Father is enough for me.

I invite you to pause for a couple minutes. And breathe this prayer.

I am enough for the Father.

The Father is enough for me.

- Sam