When someone seems to think too much of themselves we sometimes say they must be suffering from delusions of grandeur. However, I think there’s an even more pernicious and wide-spread condition: delusions of adequacy.

Adequate means “fully sufficient for the purpose” which doesn’t seem like such an elevated condition.

Most of us feel sufficient for a great many purposes, large and small. However, most of the time, whether we acknowledge it or not, we are getting just a bit of help. For instance, I feel like a pretty adequate cook. I can put a tasty meal on the table all by myself… or can I? What about the farmers and ranchers who provided the meat and produce? Or the truckers who delivered it to the store? Unless I grew everything myself (with seeds I created, maybe?) I had quite a bit of help. So not completely sufficient, after all. This holds true for most things we do.

I find this uplifting and encouraging. Rather than being depressed that I’m not as sufficient unto myself as I assumed, I feel a sense of freedom and gratitude that, whether facing difficulties or even the simplest things, I’m not in this alone.

It is tempting to think we are taking care of business every day all by ourselves and to forget about all the many unseen assistants who make our lives possible.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10:27 (NIV)