You Are Enough (But "Enough" for What?)

(From LDSSmile): 

You Are Enough! Who you are right now is enough, flaws and all. Not only are you enough, Heavenly Father loves you exactly as you are.  No conditions, no arbitrary boundaries.  He loves you exactly as you are today, but He will refuse to leave you that way to paraphrase Max Lucado.

Chieko N. Okazaki has said: “You are enough... What you have to give is enough... Your best is sufficient to the Lord.”

However lovely this saying may be, there is a whole different side of  being "enough" that isn't talked about much in our overly-romanticized culture...

What the "Law of the Harvest" Isn't

The "Law of the Harvest" in the Bible isn't a formula for guaranteed success or return on our investment -- it's more of a list of what we don't get.

Didn't sow? Then we don't get to reap.

Didn't plant fig trees? Doesn't matter how much of a green thumb we have - we don't get to harvest figs.

Didn't think far enough ahead and sow early enough? We don't get to harvest in the same season as the sowing and we have to wait to see the real results of our labors, (and sometimes by then it's too late...).

Didn't put in enough time tending to the vineyard? Our reaping is proportional to the sowing -- we don't get to reap as much as if we had spent more time sowing and laboring, and sometimes we don't get the fruit from the "good" olive tree and have to settle for the fruit from the wild one.

What if we want to give to others who have less but haven't sowed/reaped ourselves? We can't give something that we don't have or isn't ours to give, no matter how deeply we feel or how dire the need.

And like all other eternal laws, this one is immutable, so we don't get any exceptions for any reason. Even if we can't do any of these and "would if we could" we still don't get to reap -- we have to depend on the mercy of others who have, and thus no longer have the same lifestyle choices or personal liberties that bringing in a harvest ourselves would bring and are dependent on the free will of others, (hence "beggars can't be choosers").

See Also:

The Law of the Harvest by Howard W. Hunter

Seven Laws of the Harvets @ Bible.org 

The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson

Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall by Dallin H. Oaks

Marriage and the Law of the Harvest @ LDS.ORG

The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Kids / Marriage / Career / Health / Happiness Is ...

Stop thinking there is a single most important thing you can do for them.

Right now.

No matter what any scientific study, best-selling book, website, or "expert" says, there is no one single thing that will make all the difference in any area of our lives.  This mentality tends to lead to an oversimplification of the many aspects and facets of life, can justify excluding many of the essential principles needed for human happiness, and generally makes things pretty bad in the long run.

How so?