Enough

I am enough.

I live for award show season. It's the highlight of my winter, as I prepare to nestle onto the couch under a thick blanket and marvel at the beautiful dresses to grace the red carpet. In fact, last night I was so wired up about the Golden Globes I had to put my phone away from chatting with a friend, or I never would have gone to sleep. Thankfully last night I was able to keep these eyes open just in time to see Viola Davis introduce Meryl Streep for the Cecille B Demille Lifetime Achievement Award.

Among many other words, these stood out the most and shone as bright as Davis's yellow Michael Kors gown:

"You make me proud to be an artist. You make me feel that what I have in me- my body, my face, my age- is enough."

I'm a words person. And those words stole my breath away. Even watching the footage over again, so I could accurately record her speech here, still makes me sigh in peace.

The lie we believe on the a regular basis as women, and even men, is that somehow we are not enough. We aren't pretty enough. We aren't a good enough wife, mother, friend, daughter, and yes - Christian. We somehow believe we are falling short of everyone's expectations which put us back into another cycle of doubt, frustration, and attempts to achieve this ideal we have created in our heads. 

Though I'm not looking to Meryl Streep to make me feel as if I'm enough, the apostle Paul says in Colossians 2:10 - "... and in Him you have been made complete." In Christ, we are complete. We are given the mind of Christ. We are given righteousness through Christ. We have been given all wee need for life in Christ. That sense of completion makes us ENOUGH. Our body, our age, our minds, our responsibilities and roles - we are enough. It is Him who makes us enough. Sure, we can't do it on our own, but we find the peace of being enough in Christ. 

Friday on the Today Show (again a television reference), Jenna Bush Hager was talking about how she often looks back at pictures of her size and wishes she could be that certain weight again. Her husband reminded her that she really didn't look any different than the pictures. She shared with Hoda about how he encouraged her to not wait to look forward to that time when she was satisfied but let that "day" start today.  

Jenna's husband's advice isn't scriptural based, but it has implications for the believer. We can choose to dwell on right, true, lovely things - Philippians 4. Why prolong that? God has declared us enough. Thus we can choose to believe what He has said about us, or we can keep on living miserably and doubting our goodness. Today is the day to believe that I am enough. - My body, my age, my place in life, my role as a wife - I am enough. You are enough.