I get grumpy, self-pitying and selfish before I go back out on the road. I start feeling resentful about moments at home I’ll be missing. I count down the nights I’ll sleep in my bed. I get very protective of my time with Annie.

Last night we were headed out to feed the horses. “There’s a beautiful sunset,” Annie said. I grabbed Mozey’s leash and a text chime rang on my phone. I jumped into a good, productive, important 5-minute discussion. When I got outside, the best part of the sunset was gone.  “I’ll never get that back again.” I told Mozey. “That will only happen once, and now I’ve missed it” I said and started to sulk. However, I continued to scan the western horizon, north to south, and noticed how beautiful it was– the sky an incredible blue, and the clouds almost iridescent white. Continuing to gaze across the south, I caught the reds I’d “missed” in the sunset reflected on other clouds and then a magnificent moon shining down on me. “Mozey, I almost missed all that. It’s beautiful.”

Sometimes I get stuck in what I missed, might miss, will likely miss. I get so stuck on the possibility of missing something, that I do miss something. I miss what’s right in front of me. I think the fear of missing or missing out, the fear of not having, of losing or not getting has always been with us. There is an accelerated, internet version: “FOMO” (fear of missing out). This is one reason people “can’t” look away from their phones, tablets and computers. It’s an internet addiction driver. People are so afraid that they’ll be absent from others’ rewarding online experiences that they stay continuously “connected.” Some people are so afraid they’ll be perceived as missing out, they make up an online “fairy tale” in portraying their lives. Ouch.

In the Old and New Testaments, we are reminded God provides ENOUGH. From his “easy yoke” and description of the lilies of the field to his instructions to give one shirt away if we have two, Jesus makes it clear we have enough. When God feeds the Israelites as they wander through the desert, God is very specific about how much to gather. There is to be no FOMO, no need to “collect a bit more” “just in case” (or because I can, or because I deserve it). Everyone is instructed to gather just enough manna for today, knowing that God will continue to provide.

​I got one more text yesterday after the sun went down. I learned that the mother of two of my business partners and dearest friends had died. They are blessed, vital members of an extended faith-filled family. God is in their hearts. Here’s the sign they put on the door as they welcomed friends and neighbors to their home after their mother/wife’s death. While many people would focus on what they missed, what they might miss; they were focused on enough. Enough love – of God, of neighbor, of family – to speak and celebrate life.

Read Exodus 16: 9-21, and remember God loves you unconditionally and that’s enough!

Mike
Today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+16%3A+9+-21&version=NRSV