Sufficiency

Lynne Twist in her book The Soul of Money quotes Hazrat Inayat Khan as follows:

"I asked for strength,

and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom,

and God gave me problems to learn to solve. 

I asked for prosperity,

and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.

I asked for courage,

and God gave me dangers to overcome.

I asked for love,

and God gave me people to help.

I asked for favors,

and God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted.

I received everything I needed.”

I’m not sure if the attribution is correct, however, I am sure that there is extraordinary wisdom in this aphorism.  It gets to the heart of the concept of sufficiency, which Lynne Twist so adeptly describes in her book as “the universe meeting us perfectly with what we need when we need it.”  

Sufficiency is very difficult for our “more is better” society.  In fact, I expect that many reading this will never describe their circumstances as “sufficient.”  I also recognize that in the context of sales, I am expressing a heterodoxy that may very well  elicit some pejorative retorts.

In answer to those doubts,  I suggest that the aphorism gives us some perspective and insight. Just when we think we’re lacking something, nature tends to “tee-up” exactly what we need (although we may not recognize it).  Or, in the words of the Rolling Stones:

“You can't always get what you want

But if you try, sometimes - well - you might find 

You get what you need”