“Enough is as good as a feast,” my grandmother used to say. I was never quite sure what she meant, as whenever we went round for dinner, there was always enough and more for that feast.

Perhaps my more refined aunt on the other side of the family put it better. When asked if she would like a second helping of anything, she would smile and say, “I’ve had an elegant sufficiency, thank you.” She was saying she had eaten enough.

How many of us in the UK remember the advert, “A finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat?” In the 1970s, when chocolate treats were rare, it was indeed enough!

Enough is a wonderful word. Say it out loud (if you are alone, or with people who will not look at your strangely if you do). Listen to the completeness of the word. It is a word that finishes with a strong and final sound.

Enough

Enough – what a splendid word:


So round, so complete.


Not full, not empty, just satisfied


And replete.


No hunger, nor gluttony;


Enough for you, enough for me,


Enough to be whole


Enough to renew.


Nothing wasted, nothing squandered,


Everything returned and used.


Enough for now and for tomorrow.


Enough – everything I will ever need;


Enough for me, enough for you.


Enough for our Lord,


Enough to renew.


A poem by Rachel Soble.

Sometimes it seems that we never have enough. We don’t have enough money; we don’t have enough time; we don’t have enough love in our lives.

But who defines what is enough?

Yes, if we don’t have the money to pay the rent and to put food on the table, then there is not enough. There are many in the world, even in our own country, who do not have enough – our Food Banks are overstretched. Perhaps we have more demands on our time than there is time available. And we know that depression steals love from us, leaving an emptiness where love should be.

Perhaps, though, we do have enough. Perhaps it’s just that we want more than enough, and are told by the advertisers that we should want more and more and more… This Christmas I have been watching the TV adverts for Jewellery and Perfume and almost obscene amounts of food. Don’t most of us already have enough? Perhaps we have enough time but are always trying to fit too much in. I am so guilty of this: my mother always says I try to fit a quart into a pint pot. Perhaps we do have enough love: we just need to see it.

There is a saying, the secret of happiness is not to have what you want, but to want what you have.

I don’t want to make light of need, or to dismiss the misery of others but I think most of us have enough of everything we need. And that enough is all we need.

Mary

A Moodscope member.