Forwarded Messages: Plague or Praise?

Forwarded messages tend to irritate me as I often receive them from people who rarely communicate any other way.  Most often, the forwarded messages do not even carry a greeting from the sender, and even more often, the same people send the same messages more than once.  They don't seem to remember that they've already read this story, seen this political cartoon, watched this video before.

As irritated as I feel about these messages, and for valid reasons, I think God gives me reminders through the reruns and repeats.  He teaches me patience with those folks who insist on simply hitting "forward all".  He teaches me to manage my time more responsibly by assessing the subject lines or the web addresses to discern whether I should bother opening the message.  Interestingly, He teaches me new lessons when I reread or review the content of those pieces that pass my screening process.

One of the best lessons I have read and reread comes from this little story, forwarded for years across the Internet and through e-mail. 

I wish you enough. 

Simple and sweet, or does it pack a punch?  For me, I feel the punch within the simple sweetness of the story.  I feel deflated at the thought that we, most of us, have too much.  We don't have any idea what it feels like to sincerely want or need the basics of life.  We don't know the feeling of real hunger.  We don't have a clue what it feels like to have no place to go at night, without a warm bed at the end of it.  We don't know how not to read, how not to write, how not to handle basic math.  We have coins or bills in our pockets, and if not either of those, plastic to cover the void.  We don't know the first thing about truly lacking.

Though, what we do lack shows plainly in our world right now ... for years it has, I think.

We lack compassion too many times, judging what we see and hear around us without understanding who/why/when/where/how.  We see someone who looks different from us and assume status in life, in education, in quality of life, according to our own conflicted standards.

We lack patience with our families, our friends and our communities, as well as with others in the world due to that same lack of compassion, and failure to bother to understand or communicate with others. 

We lack common concern, looking away from struggling people, not wanting to make eye contact for fear of appearing to judge them when all they may need is a smile of encouragement, a kind word.

We lack self-control, indulging our whims, encouraging our vices and addictions, and avoiding the "should do" because we prefer the "want to do."  Yet, we berate others for not pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, getting the monkeys off their backs or turning away from temptation.

We have enough, many of us, at least.  We who have enough don't usually feel satisfied with it.  We compare, window shop, surf, make wish lists in our heads and in our hearts. 


Every one of us needs to take a good look at what we have in the way of material things and in the ways of heart and spirit, and see what amazing excess we have.  I believe we all know when we have "enough.  Some of us may not have the income for extras, but extras go beyond "enough".  Do you agree that if you have more than one set of clothing and more than one pair of shoes that you have enough?  Do you agree that having food on the table each day that you have enough, that a roof over your head says that you have enough?  Do you believe that having people in your life each day means you have enough?

Is it that we don't have enough or that we don't have what we expect?

Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," ~~Hebrews 13:5

I offer a challenge to you right now.  Look around you.  Take stock of your marriage,  your family, your friends, your basic needs, your possessions, and your faith.  Really think about the reality of your life as it is right now and if you make the most of what you have.  Right now.  Every day.  Now, your goal is to find contentment with what you already have, what God provides for you everyday, through the blessings of work (money), family, and life itself.  If you have more than enough, make a great effort to do something important with it, to use it wisely, to give it to someone who does not have enough, to change a life.

The awesome aspect of this kind of giving comes in the way that it changes your life, too.


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