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How Much Land Does a Man Need?
That’s the title of a short story written in 1886 by the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.
It’s only a few pages long. But James Joyce, one of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers, declared it to be “the greatest story that the literature of the world knows.”
Perhaps that’s because most of us can relate to the experience of its central character.
A peasant named Pahom longs to own more property. In his culture, land is the ultimate benchmark of security. Pahom boasts that if he just had enough land, he wouldn’t even fear the devil.
He wheels and deals with his neighbors. He buys everything he can get his hands on.
More land. Cheaper land. Better land.
But contentment eludes him. Pahom can’t resist the idea that there’s still a better deal out there somewhere, if he can just make the right connections.
One day he hears a rumor about the land of the Bakshirs. Hundreds of acres are available, almost for the taking. Pahom journeys to this amazing place, where he makes a deal with the chief of the Bakshirs. For one thousand rubles, he can have all the land he can walk around in one day. All he has to do is mark his progress with a spade.
It’s a dream come true.
There’s just one caveat: He has to return to his exact starting place before the sun sets, or the deal is off. If he doesn’t make it, he will lose his thousand rubles and get no land at all.
The day begins well. He plans to walk at least 35 miles.
By midday he realizes he might have miscalculated. Perhaps he’s trying to grab too much. Tightly gripping his spade, he picks up the pace.
As the sun begins to set, Pahom realizes it’s going to come down to a sprint. If he runs with all his might, he might just make it back in time. Just as the sun vanishes, Pahom lunges. He collapses at the starting line.
He did it!
And with that, he breathes his last.
Pahom’s servant picks up the spade his master was carrying and digs his grave. How much land does a man need? Tolstoy closes his story with these memorable words:
“Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed.”
How much do you need?
How many zeroes do you need in your paycheck to feel important? How many Likes do you need for your latest post to feel noticed? How many saved-up airline miles do you need to feel free? How many pairs of shoes do you need to feel ready for summer?
It doesn’t really matter.
If you’re not content right now with what you have, no amount of working, risking, or saving will ever make it happen. You’ll always ache for more.
But perhaps the disillusionment of all those somethings will lead you to Someone.
Contentment arrives when we possess the one thing we can never earn or deserve: the certainty of God’s love and blessing.
The apostle Paul put it like this:
“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” (Philippians 4:12-13, The Message)
Paul McCartney, at least, got half the formula right: “All you need is love.”
God’s love.