Holiness of Enough!

Posted in the July 2024 Newsletter

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Tanzania. As I unpack the physical items--I also am unpacking all of the memories and people I was blessed to experience. One of the themes for this trip, experienced in different ways and with different people, was a sense of Holy Enough!

I am not sure if this is a real term, but I doubt I am the first one to find, sense, or hone in on this idea. So many Wesley College graduates that I visited have this sense of Holy Enough! (exclamation point necessary for the copy right). They had this sense that they were fed up with what they were seeing in their communities. They were fed up with the status quo from when they were growing up. They were fed up with being told ‘that’s just the way things are.’

This was true for graduates- Fred and Robert- who started Yatosha, which means "enough" in Swahili. The deaf and hearing impaired they work with are enough in and of themselves. On the other end-they've had enough of the poor treatment they receive and the way their families and communities hide them away.

This was true for graduate- Rafael- who talked about church practices that bring people to sit on pews but don't bring about real-life transformation. His sense of Holy Enough! led him to focus on house churches. In the last 2 years- he has worked with over 40 churches that bring real-life change to everyone involved.

This was true for Wesley College graduate- Veronica- who is working to stop FGM in her community. She wanted her daughters' generation to feel Holy Enough! after being fed up with a community practice that haunts her parents' and her generations.

All of these amazing servant leaders are motivated to move, act, serve, and lead because they have a holy dissatisfaction with the current actions and opportunities being afforded to them and other vulnerable populations.

They have decided the cost of leading change is less than the heart ache of things staying the same. And in conversation after conversation- they outline a path forward. And what have they given thanks to for opening their eyes to their personal potential and abilities?--- their education and time at Wesley College. The Holy Enough! is not a new feeling for any of them, but they have now added agency to the list, the ability to act in the face of challenges.

Often seeing something wrong in the world that we can’t fix can lead to anger, frustration, depression, grief, and other feelings that can swallow us up. To have hope, to have confidence, to have a vision for a path forward is a game changer. Wesley College is helping to form leaders for the church and community to provide hope, to them and to others.