Last week I pulled my belt too hard and broke the leather. Not driving, I can’t really get out to shop. The computer is quite helpful. That evening I ordered a new one online but was in such a hurry I didn’t bother paying for or selecting quicker shipping. So I have endured several days with shorts tryng to snake their way off of my waist. I have been reduced to walking around with hands in pockets. It has become tiresome.

Today when i got home I found that my belt arrived.

Earlier this morning on a podcast I had heard Mozart’s setting of the Nunc Dimittis. The old priest Simeon’s beautiful declration of having enough.
Ich hab’ genug.
I have enough I have you, Lord.

In some ways an impossibly neat, pious truism. True for all that.

Having enough is important. It’s an answer to the incessant pressure to exceed. It’s a reminder of how recognising our limits, our finitude, is a recognition of our giftedness, or rather our given-to-be-ness.

Having enough is not overwhelming. It is not a starry night being stoned in love, but it’s pretty good when your shorts stay up.