WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED?

Food, water, and air are a given but if everything – all of it – was taken away, what would you need to survive, to live an abundant life? I have been asking myself that question as I look at all the stuff I have accumulated over the years juxtaposed on my actual needs. I have been pushing myself to be specific with questions like “why do I have the urge to buy four in the buy get one free sale when I only need one.” The answer is not a good one, “I might need it and not be able to find it.”

Reboot, Rejuvenate, Resurrect’s goal is grounded in continuously digging deeper to find what promotes healthy, balanced, and holy living---shutting down some things and starting over -pouring more time and energy into areas that have grown stale or stagnate - resurrecting other areas that died due to prolong neglect. In this context, I’ve answered the question and challenge you to do likewise -What do I really need? Be specific.

I need to open my eyes daily both physically and spiritually. I need a body that functions as well as it can, given the number of years I have used and or abused it. I need to enjoy people and food. I need shelter from the elements. As I write these statements, it is occurring to me that even these things are not absolutely essential. Plenty people live abundantly who are physically blind or otherwise differently able. Having loads of people around doesn’t guarantee that one isn’t lonely. And there are those who have managed to live full lives without permanent shelter.

For me, these are the essentials: an ever-growing capacity to love myself and others and to be loved, to have an attitude of gratitude for the little and the much, to be a conduit of grace (grace is never deserved, grace can’t be preserved, or reserved by me for my selected few). I need to be generous with others and a humble recipient. I need to forgive others with no expectations that others will forgive me. I need to be honest with myself about myself and all my crooked edges and imperfections. I need to care for the things that I can control and release the others. I need to embrace all humanity and nature and live harmoniously with each.

I hope that you became aware as you read the litany of my needs, that all can be supplied from within. Everything that I need I already have within me.

Oh, there are three other things, I need a connection to my Creator, a constant desire to access what is already on deposit in me and to be intentional about remembering what I really need. Sounds simple doesn’t it? – it isn’t – but it is worth the struggle.

Matt 6:33

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Warning: focusing on our wants potentially blinds us to what we really need.