Enough. Sufficient. Adequate.

What is enough? For you? For your family? For society?

Ever since our water situation (see June 7, 2023 post) when there wasn’t enough (or any) water coming into our home, I’ve been thinking about resources and what constitutes “enough”. What would be sufficient or adequate for the quality and quantity of resources or items in my life? What is enough?

It also begs the question- what would/should I do with those resources or items that are plenty? Share with others? Many of the world wars have been fought over one country’s desire to have more than enough than its neighbors- more resources, more people under rule, more revenue, and just plainly, more power.

The thing is- there is always enough when one shares. It is part of God’s economics. Plenty of Proverbs in the Old Testament call for the Hebrews to be generous and share: One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:24-25.) I think of Abram giving his nephew Lot “first dibs” in choosing land for their respective, growing households.

But it is more than allowing someone to pick the choicest morsel. It’s the miracle of loaves and fishes. The bounty of nature. The unexplainable economics of tithing.

I am always amazed at the quantity of seeds/flowers/fruit/vegetables that a single plant can produce. While plants are designed to produce a lot in order that the species survives, some plants provide much more than that. Their abundance is not necessarily for their own survival but for those insects/birds/animals surrounding them. And then there are those plants that provide just beauty. I think of the abundance of my hydrangeas at our previous home. Some years, the blooms were prolific. Heavenly. The thing that I learned, it was best to cut them and enjoy the blooms. That way, I could prune/shape the bushes as I enjoyed the flowers and be guaranteed that I wouldn’t inadvertently cut the next year’s set blooms (which can happen if I tried pruning in the spring before the season began). Of course, the hydrangeas being so prolific, I had to share them with others. There was no room in the house otherwise.

A gardening task that is necessary for perennial plants to grow and thrive is to divide them every three to five years. Dividing is a natural sharing. It underscores the health benefits for sharing in general: physical/mental/emotional health as well as community building. The dividends can be placed in other parts of the garden or given to others. The remaining plant has room to grow deeper roots, allows more sunlight and air into the plant and in general will allow it to become even healthier.

If you had any doubt about sharing and/or plants producing enough- look to zucchini. Is there any other plant that keeps on growing and giving like the zucchini? What to do when you the gardener has enough? Give to neighbors, friends, colleagues, etc. (There is an old adage that you cannot out give God but I think the zucchini plant could give Him a run for His money. Or perhaps zucchini is a divine plant?)

When I was a teenager there was a gentleman in our church who shared a home movie about a relative who tried a tithing experiment in the 1940’s: The relative planted wheat and gave a tenth of the yield to the church and then replanted the remaining 90%. He continued this practice for six years, resting on the seventh. He started with 1 cubic inch of wheat kernels- about 360 kernels that were planted in a four by eight feet area. The final crop, six years later, grew in an area of over 2,000 acres. The amount of yield he received with the planted 90% exceeded the expectation of what the amount should’ve yielded. (Click here to see the 1944 Life Magazine article about the tithing experiment.)

It seems to me that the underlying question of enough and sharing is all about control and fear. Think about little kids who have trouble sharing. “Mine” they say. They do not want to relinquish their ____ (fill in the blank- toy, food, blanket, etc.) Or they do not want a portion of what they have to be shared (half a cookie, piece of candy, etc.) Some of the rationale is the fear that the item will not be returned, or that it will get lost or broken. Or what is left will not be enough to satisfy them. If they hold on to item and not share it, they can control what happens to it.

There is really no difference with adults. Can you let go of something and trust that all will be well? That what you have left will be enough? Or that what is shared will be returned, perhaps even in unimaginable ways? Or just be satisfied with what you have? No more? No less?

And we have trouble sharing not just physical items, but what about the intangible- sharing information, ideas, or guidance. Helping the colleague which may give them the leg up for the promotion? Allowing another to take “credit” for your idea? Does the recognition matter as long as the activity/solution/idea comes to fruition? Fear that someone will “get ahead” of us? That we will be left with “nothing”?

What about you? Do you have enough? More than enough? Of what types of items? Tangible? Intangible? How are you with sharing?

I love the idea that King Solomon writes in Proverbs that he (or she) who refreshes others will be refreshed. To be refreshed- I pray that would be enough for me.