Saturday, December 17, 2022
advent & Affluenza
The Rev. Rob Stevens
There is a legend of sorts that a reporter once asked Rockefeller, “How much is enough?” to which Rockefeller responded, “Just a little bit more.” We tend to chuckle when we hear this, but if we ponder it for a moment his response is disturbing and perhaps a little sad. However, we do live in a culture that is flooded with messages that reinforce the idea that we do not have enough. Commercials make sure that we are told over and over that we do not have enough money, time, energy, health, etc. Our economic system is predicated on this idea that we will consume more and more. But is it true?
A dear friend of mine shared a story of a friend who always “needed” more. It was always the new car, new electronic device, new wife, etc. Yet this person was miserable. My friend described this person’s condition as “Affluenza.” It is a condition that many suffer from in our culture. It is a perceived need for more and more while enjoying life less and less. In some circles we call this a scarcity model of existence. It is the posture that says that there is not enough and that our purpose is to accumulate as much as possible. It is this philosophy that created the bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” That same friend had a counter bumper sticker to this way of life that read, “He who dies with the most toys…still dies.” What are our options for the way we live if this idea that there is never enough is so widely accepted?
I suggest that as we enter into this holiday season a good question for each of us might be, “what is enough?” To sit with it and ponder what enough looks like for each of us. This is an intensely personal question and it will vary from person to person, but it is a question that VERY few people ever seriously consider. Madison Avenue wants each of us to ignore this question and just continue to suffer from Affluenza. However, we do have a choice. We have the opportunity to wonder what enough looks like and get off the treadmill of more and onto the road of life. We have the opportunity to examine life through the lens of abundance.
A great lyric by a favorite songwriter of mine is, “The best thing in life…aren’t things.” As I ponder what is enough for me I am reminded that there are incredible gifts in life that do not run out, no matter how much we use them. Love is a great example. The only way there is not enough love is if we hoard it and do not share it. I learned this first hand in my family. To make a long story short, I fell in love with my wife and was happy. Then, lo and behold she became pregnant. I worried that there would not be enough love for all of us. But what I found was that there was more than enough. Then I worried that we could never love another child like we loved our first born. Wrong again…there was more than enough love. This real experience gave me pause and caused me to examine my understanding of how much is enough for me and to consider that I did indeed have enough of the “things” that matter.
I encourage you to question your understanding of enough…wonder with friends and family this holiday season about what it means for you and for them. I have discovered one phrase that reminds me effectively to resist the insanity of the phrase “you will never have enough.” It is, “the commitment to enough is the antidote to wanting more.” The challenge to living this way is that we have to take the time to consider the question. So I ask you again, what is enough for you?