The Graze V.181: Enough

Hi Friends:

In the center of the basement of the vicarage is a large root cellar. It is made of stone and has shelves along the walls. Empty canning jars - the ones with wire closures and glass lids - still sit on the shelves.

There are stories of the wives of the early vicars at Mission Farm filling these shelves with beans and tomatoes, peas and pickled beets from the harvest. Afterall, this was the only way to feed a family through the long, cold winters in the Killington Valley. There are also stories of Truman Heminway making his way by horse and sled to remote farmhouses to share this food with families whose provisions fell short.

We often talk about ‘living from abundance’. And while I appreciate and even celebrate the generosity of the universe, I question our own compulsion for abundance. Our culture seems to scream for us to accumulate more and more and more. I wonder, could this be the root of our ecological collapse? Of hunger and poverty? Of our mental health crisis?

There seems to be uncertainty as to whether there will be enough - enough time, enough money, enough opportunity, enough love…. I believe that there is enough. Perhaps if we change our thinking from seeking abundance to being content with enough, we will find all that we need and more. I wonder how we might learn what it means to simply have enough. This might be the root of generosity where we discover healing and invitation for all of God’s beloved.

We are no longer concerned about putting up food from the garden to make it through the winter. But we still keep an eye on the firewood.

Blessings as we learn together to grow into the contentment of “enough.”

🌱 💚 Lisa