The Freedom of Enoughness

So many people (including myself) are constantly searching for something to tell them that they are enough. We want to be able to say:

I am good enough.

I am strong enough.

I am smart enough.

I am rich enough.

I am productive enough.

I am organized enough.

I am interesting enough.

I am funny enough.

I am pretty enough.

I am kind enough.

I am caring enough.

We want to know that we are worth something in this world. We want to know that we measure up.

But what if we removed those middle words. What if we simply said:

I have lived my life always striving to be more, to do more. One day I looked over at a friend’s paper. She was doodling and I saw this simple phrase. It profoundly impacted me. It was something I had never heard or considered before. It was freeing. When we remove the extra words, our worth lies simply in who we are instead of what we do, create, or produce. It is separate from what we say and how we act.

I’m not saying that those things are never important. All I am saying is that they aren’t what determine our value and worth. In fact, some of them may be a byproduct of realizing we have worth. When we know that we are worthwhile people apart from what we do, we are free to act out of love and kindness instead of acting in ways that we think will prove our worth.

I also recently heard the word “enoughness” from Emily P. Freeman. (I recommend her book Grace for the Good Girl to anyone who has struggled with trying to be good enough!) That word enoughness is one I am trying to keep in my mind and heart. It brings me peace. It is freeing.

I’d like to say that I am free from striving, that I live by these words everyday and never stress about measuring up. But that’s not true. As a college student, I am still surrounded with grades, exams, and trying to make it in the professional world. In finding out who I am, what I can contribute, and in making a career for myself. But I am starting to allow myself to rest, a few moments at a time, in the peaceful thought that I am enough. Take a break from striving and working, a break from trying to prove yourself, and think about the fact that God created you. He made the choice not only to create you, but also to plan out all of your days. And when I really think about it, how can I feel like I do not have worth when God thought I was worth the life of His Son?

It’s an amazing fact that I am trying to rest in. And I hope you will, too.