How Much Is Enough?

What does is profit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul? ~ Jesus

When speaking of someone considered to be rich and exactly how rich they may be, I often quip, "Let's just say they don't have to worry about paying the light bill."

Last night somebody in South Carolina won the largest single jackpot in lottery history, 1.6 billion dollars. Yes, that's "billion!" They definitely won't have to worry about paying their light bill. However, they are probably in line for many other worries never dreamt or imagined.

All of this begs a question - what is my/your benchmark for being "rich?"  If it really is "not worrying about paying the light bill" then a whole lot of people are rich, even those who don't have a light bill to pay. Some people will immediately go to a broader definition of "rich" and talk about the riches of family, friends, community, etc. Others may consider safety, freedom, or security as riches. But whatever our commodity, we all have, or need to have, a standard for how much is enough. Finding this standard is not so easy in a culture of production and consumption that survives and thrives on creating scarcity in order to convince us that we never have enough of anything.

Once we can come to our own personal place of enough, anything over and above is superfluous and available to help others reach their place of enough. And there really is enough of everything for everyone to have enough.

Enough, whatever the commodity,  really is the place where we begin to find our soul.