Day Twenty-Six

Day Twenty-Six // March 26 // Gluttony & Excess

“It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca –

The very word gluttony conjures the image of a table spread with sumptuous food and one foolish person preparing to gorge himself on the feast. But in reality, gluttony is a rot that goes much deeper and spreads much further than mere food. It is the unchecked appetite that would pull us distant from God. It is any desire or craving that is taken to excess and, when driven to its extreme, can lead to potential addiction. Yes, it can be about food… but let’s not let ourselves off the hook so quickly. We can also glutton ourselves with alcohol, with sex, with work, with hobbies… even with our favorite sports team. Each of these desires may be healthy and good, but the trouble comes in the excess. In a need to fill ourselves, we fall to the temptation of

thinking that “more” will make us feel better. We chase the elusive “enough” as if it were always unattainable – thinking that with just one more trophy, with just one more trip, with just one more (fill in your word), life will be better, and I will feel complete. It’s all in our thinking; for gluttony is, in reality, a sin of the mind. It is idolatry. We chase “too much” trying to find happiness, when the truth is that gluttony always hurts us and makes us feel worse. We must come to understand that completeness comes only as a gift, only as a fruit of faith.

One commentator said of our culture: “Human beings are the only creature whose desires increase the more they are fed. Your family dog wants to no more than his ancestors wanted when curled beside the caveman’s fire. Dogs and cats are content with what dogs and cats had a thousand years ago, but not us. People are different. Give them an inch and they want a foot. Give them a foot and they want a yard. Give them a yard and they want a swimming pool in it.”

Given this, one of the antidotes for such gluttony is gentle, humble, Christ-like simplicity. It’s found in contentment. It’s found in less, not more. And since gluttony is a sin of the mind, we have to reframe our thinking. We have to debunk the myth that “more” is always better, that “more” will bring greater joy. We have to move from acquisition and consumption to cherishing the little things: a walk, a garden, a good book. And we

have to reframe our thinking about what we really want. When an American tourist visited the renowned Polish Rabbi, Hafetz Chaim, he was surprised to find him in an unadorned room filled with only books, a table and a bench. “Where’s your furniture?” the visitor asked. “Where’s yours?” the rabbi answered. “Mine? I’m only a visitor here. I am just passing through.” “So am I,” said the rabbi.

In a world where what we own too quickly comes to own us, we desperately need to remember and to reclaim our worth and our true identity. We are not the sum total of our experiences – they don’t get to define us. We are not the mere amalgam of what we have and who we know. We are children of God, made in His image, temples of His Holy Spirit. And that is enough.