understatement
It was in high school that I read Joseph Conrad's short story "The Lagoon," but it is still burned into my mind as a masterpiece by virtue of one sentence. I don't remember all the details, but the story is set on a still, sultry jungle night. The way Conrad paints it, you can hear the heartbeat of the dark waters, feel the thickness of the air as the narrative unfolds.
I'm not going to set the whole story up. Go read it. Conrad does it better. But at one point the storyteller interrupts his tale to say to the white man,
"Tuan, I loved my brother."
With that statement, all the man's heartbreak and desolation roll out into the hot, oppressive space of the jungle night. But Conrad doesn't say that. If he had, he would have ruined the story. Had he attempted to describe the man's feelings, his anguish, his despair, they would have been cheapened. So he left them unsaid. He instead allowed the man to tell his story, line after line floating out into the night, emotionless but for those five words, which say so much because they suppress so much.
Again--go read the story yourself, and hopefully I didn't spoil it for you. That's just an illustration, but I began to notice the principle when I started writing, and I have seen it throughout literature, music, even conversation: Often things are best expressed not when they're described in detail, but when they're barely hinted at. The most significant detail is the least pompous. The most profound is left to be unsaid.
Understatement. Try it sometime.
my first random post
yay for playing outside with kindergarteners!
enough
I have enough.
That is a simple statement, it is one that is extremely joyful when I realize it's actually true. I realized that again tonight and felt like annoucing it to the world and so decided it would be a good time to start a blog. However, in the process of figuring out how to start said blog, all the eloquence of what I wanted to say left so you'll have to leave the eloquence and take the facts as they come.
Fact 1: I am daily loaded with benefits. My God is the God of good. He is enough to absolutely fill eternity with His goodness and we will never have the slightet thought of getting bored with Him. That is pretty incredible but basically outside of my thought capacity, so He has abounded toward me in tangible evidences of His goodness. I am not going to start listing them. You can take a look around you and if you have any sense of thankfulness at all you will recognize that is true. It is especially cool b/c He is the Creator and I am just the creature and really, He didn't even have to make me let alone give me anything but He did. All He knows I need. Enough.
Fact 2: My faith has found a resting place. I offended God and yet God chose to pay for my redemption. I do not have to do anything or connive any state of mind and I have no capacity to anyway, but He took care of it all for me. All I have to do is accept the redemption He offers. The more I see who I am as compared to who He is, the more I am in awe at His forgiveness, at His mercy. How can it be? but it is, and I can trust it, and release from the anguish of trying to be enough for God. He has chosen to be enough for me.
Fact 3: The Lord is my sanctifier. In Deuteronomy, God through Moses talks to Israel getting ready to enter the promised land and tells them not to fear. They are not strong enough. They can't conquer the land. But He is and He shows His power and wipes out city after city, provides food, water, everything they need. He has power to complete His promise. His power is over more than armies and giants and forces of nature. He is stronger than sin. He conquered it at the cross and in doing so He broke its power over me. As I grow in the holiness of God I learn to hate sin more and more but I do not need to fear it. I do not need to live in paranoia of the sin nature that still lies within me. I do need to fight it but not in my own strength; in the strength of the God Who has accomplished my victory already, Who has given me all I need for life and godliness. Sometimes I feel lost in the sinfulness I still see inside me but: I shall not fear the battle, for He is by my side. I cannot ultimately be defeated. His grace is sufficient. How can I fear? He is enough.
He is enough. More than enough. Do you believe it? Then rejoice with me!
