“You are enough.”
Not a day goes by where I don’t see that phrase in my feeds.
It comes to me other forms, too — like the tragic statement I got in my inbox this week: “some days I get it all right, and on the others, I need a lot of grace.”
No, my friend. You need the most grace on the days you feel like you get it all right.
That’s because “you are enough” is poison in a pretty package — a bitter pill wrapped in sugar-coated flattery. It’s a promise of hope that leaves you hopeless in the end.
It floats in like encouragement, but settles on your shoulders like a weight, with the belief and pressure that you alone have to do it all, be it all, have it all. The more you feel like you’ve got it together — the more you feel like it’s all just within your reach — the longer you’ll stay trapped in this graceless lie.
You are not enough. You need God. You need friendships. You need help. You need a purpose and a dream and a perspective that goes beyond the smallness of self.
You need grace.
And it’s ok. You were born for this — created for a life that is built upon the foundation of God and the strength of community, not one that spends all its energy trying to balance on the shaky, single exhaustible pillar of yourself.
Move hard and fast away from that kind of life. Intentionally invite others to guide you, advise you, walk with you, help you. Look for ways you can actively admit you can’t do this or be this alone.
A net is stronger than a thread.
I used to believe I alone could keep it all together — that I could make my life go right and be right. Some days, I still do.
Thank God, He is teaching me a new way.
Thank God, I am not enough.
1 Comments
Amy
I’ve been thinking about this post for the last week. Something felt off to me on the first glance and it took some reflection to find my words. I think you’ve mixed two ideologies (need for community and god and self worth) into one post and I hope my comment will cause you to reflect. You are correct that we need community, but you missed the point where you say the phrase “you are enough” is a lie. The point of “you are enough” isn’t saying “you can do it all by yourself”, it’s saying “You don’t have to be anything more than you are” and “You are everything you need to be”. It’s interesting to me that you took it the way you did after your “so what?” post a few months back. That post seemed to be declaring “I am enough.” Several years ago after wrestling with my wounds through some wise counsel I had the word “enough” tattooed on my wrist. I am asked on occasion why “enough”, and my response is always the same. The word to me is my reminder to practice gratitude, to remember that I am given everything I need to live the life I am given. Being enough is not about the pressures to be perfect but the acceptance of my imperfection.