When it comes to sweet and salty, I don’t always know what amount is enough.

I find restaurant french fries are often my nemesis…they are humbling to me as well.

As a family we have gone to a restaurant called Swiss Chalet.  Sometimes my food comes before the kids’ food or Ted’s so they lean in and grab a fry.  It REALLY annoys me! I usually snap that it is my food so keep your hands to yourself. 

However, later when my stomach is screaming at me that it is full, I must push on and fight the good fight of eating every last french fry lest someone say, “See Nancy?  You could have shared cuz you couldn’t eat them all always!”

One time Ted and I went to a restaurant called the Butcher and Banker.  Ted’s meal came with regular fries but I paid the extra to get sweet potato fries.  When our plates were served there was a noticeable difference between Ted’s Mount Everest pile of regular fries and my puny serving size of sweet potato fries. 

Heck no, I wasn’t going to accept this hardship so I called the waitress over and pointed out the offensive act.  I asked if this was normal and she told me that yes, it was, because sweet potato fries are more expensive.  I maturely rolled my eyes at the injustice I was having to accept and then proceeded to eat my meal. 

I was so full after the main portion that I was having a hard time finishing the fries but I didn’t want to give the waitress the opportunity to think, “See?  You couldn’t even finish the ones we gave you but you just HAD to complain that it wasn’t enough!”  And so I continued to stuff my face until every last french fry was in my overfilled gullet.  

I think I live with this mentality of ‘not enough’ in many areas of my life. I’d like to complain to the Waiter. I think I have a scarce life.  I’m scarce on time. I’m scarce on money.  I’m scarce on food and treats.  I’m scarce on time for myself. I’m scarce on talent or ability.  I think I use my mentality of ‘scarcity’ to excuse me from different opportunities to help or make a difference.  

I started to think on this because of Exodus 16 where the Isrealite community was in the desert after escaping Egypt.  They were grumbling to Moses saying that they wished they had died in Egypt. 

They said, “There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, …”  (v 3).  When the LORD gave manna and quail as a solution to the problem He says, “The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.” (v4) 

Other language used in this chapter is “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning…” (v8)  “…and in the morning you will be filled with bread.”

The key verses, though, that stood out to me were in v16 – “Each one is to gather as much as he needs.” and v17 – “…some gathered much, some little.  And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.  Each one gathered as much as he needed.”

This hit me.  In the desert, they didn’t have oodles and oodles but they had ENOUGH.  There wasn’t scarcity.  There was ABUNDANCE for THAT DAY. 

But I think our current definition of abundance is skewed.  I think we’ve started to think that we need to have oodles and oodles of something in order to give it away. 

We need to be overflowing in quantity…we need to have an excess.  Only then do we have ENOUGH.  Only then do we have an ABUNDANCE to give from.  

I spent some time on these definitions and so here are some synonyms for these three words:

Scarcity – short supply; lack; in want; shortage; inadequate; insufficient; undersupply

Abundance – very large quantity; copious quantity; plentifulness; overflowing; abound; ample; affluence; wealth

Enough – as much or as many as required; sufficient; adequate; ample; quantity/quality to fully meet demands, needs and expectations; quantity that is the sufficient amount necessary for satisfaction

I have watched my parents be generous in multiple ways of life while I have sat by watching or receiving.  If I’m honest, it has only been in the last 6 months where I think I am learning to be generous.  

The other day my neighbor was sharing how her and her husband were trying to dig up grass for a new walkway.  She has been battling cancer the last year and so has lost most of her physical strength for the time-being.  I walked home intending to sit down and do my own thing. 

In my head, though, I kept thinking how I work out a ton right now.  I have an abundance of strength and energy.  I have abundant fitness and health.  So I dragged my two oldest across the street and we dug that grass up for over an hour.  In the midst of it I joked with the kids that their dad would have finished in 15 minutes.  But you know what?  That doesn’t matter.