There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the Sun. Ecclesiastes 3:1
Enough
Posted September 30, 2009
Dear Friends
I got a bite of the ‘Big Apple’ this month. New York is an exhilarating city of energy, ingenuity and ambition - all the superlatives. Visiting during the 9-11 season one cannot but share the trauma associated with the ‘towers’. Around the corner from ‘ground zero’, down from Wall Street, a Brazen Bull reflects the ambient spirit, an attitude that appreciates only growth, yet bookstores in the region are stuffed with opinions on why that bubble burst.
The story is told of a billionaire, who boasted to Joseph Heller that he earned more in a day from stock trading than all the royalties on his book, Catch-22. Heller response was that he had something that the billionaire would never have: - ENOUGH! The ability to discern sufficiency is a subtle grace on the road to contentment, a value much depreciated in our consumerist society.
How much food is enough? How much money is enough? How many household gadgets are enough? How much affection is enough?
John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard mutual index linked fund has been a life-long advocate of the real economy and the longer view. He contrasts some of the tensions as shown. Interestingly the insufficiencies are all in the spiritual ambit.
Too Much Not Enough
Cost Centeredness Value Centeredness
Short-Term Speculation Long-Term Investment
Complexity Simplicity
Counting & Box ticking Trust
Salesmanship Stewardship
Focus on Things Commitment
“Success” Character
Cost Centeredness Value Centeredness
Short-Term Speculation Long-Term Investment
Complexity Simplicity
Counting & Box ticking Trust
Salesmanship Stewardship
Focus on Things Commitment
“Success” Character
Our situation may well have been described by the ancient prophet Haggai: “You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! “Haggai 1:6 (NLT)
By contrast, the promise of Malachi assures us that abundance comes from right priorities:
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10 (KJV)
For some, there are times of shortage and faith testing, this we cannot deny. Yet our task is to build spiritual and communal value in the name of our Saviour from whence all blessings flow.
Thank you for being committed to this task.
Best regards
Victor