I have plenty ...

Thursday, Oct 13, 2011. How is your life? How are you doing? Let us evaluate our state of living! Let us note what we have and what we do not have. Let us write down what is missing …

I have plenty …

Living in the center of Europe or on one of its edges today leaves us with most things which are needed to live. We have plenty of food. We have some accommodation, at least a bed and some shelves. Most of us even own a car - or we can use public transport, which is mostly much cheaper and works well in most parts of the continent. We have libraries scattered over the country, with books more than we can ever read. We have nice landscapes, rivers and mountains, lakes and the sea.

When we look into our personal environment, there is more which we need. Most of us have some friends or at least some people we know and which we see on a regular basis, colleagues or neighbors. We have time to carry out leisure activities, we can go into the town center and watch the activities of street artists. There are cinemas and pubs all over the country, which provide a rich environment for our social activities. There are churches everywhere, we can go and get to know people.

Many people today are given plenty. Of course, we still need to work, which might be quite demanding. Or we are living on public aide, which keeps us short with money. But still, in principle we get plenty of the things which I describe above. Why not try a “thank you” for any of it of for all of it?

What is missing …

What is missing? We might name concrete things which are missing in our life right now. Perhaps we need a job or another job. Perhaps we are looking for a partner. Illness might cause suffering currently. But I am now more looking into another part of our life.

Do we have God in our life? Do we know him, his love, his truth, his mercy? Do we know that he is there, that God has been always there, searching people to get to know his fantastic ways? Do we have faith? Is our life built on faith? Is it emerged in faith? Is is filled with faith and trust?

Are we full of justice? Are we full of solidarity? Are we full of truth? Are we lights for one another? Are we helpers? Are we good companions? Are we living in the spirit of the loving Lord? Here, we need to note what is missing. We need to note clear demands, clear questions … such that we can bring them to the Lord as well and tell him: “Lord, here we are, see our needs!” (Roland Potthast) ... more texts