ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL

Isn’t it amazing how what used to be luxuries have become necessities?

Consider: cell phones, computers, TV, cars with minimal bells & whistles (my 16-year-old vehicle has a CD player, power windows, air conditioning, seat position memory, to name a few); microwave ovens, sewing machines with memory and scores of decorative stitches; leaf blowers, lawn mowers that cut, mulch, and bag; ready-cooked meals to store in the freezer (not cooked by me); “grocery” stores that sell everything, including clothes and furniture; ditto hardware and drug stores; catalogs to bring anything your little heart desires right to your door.

With all these possibilities, all these choices, vying for my attention, I find it hard to choose what is essential and what’s merely impulse buying.

So, I looked around my house and came up with a list of what I can’t live without. Some are really basic—they’ve been around our lives for centuries, so we take them for granted (printed books, language, music, tools; knowledge, creativity, caregiving). Others are personal to me. And if you’re anywhere near my age, you may remember a time (or perhaps in your grandparents’ time) when my list of essentials wasn’t common.

Such as:

I like colorful Post-It Notes

·         Toilet tissue

·         Soap

·         Post-It Notes

·         Books

·         Paper and writing instruments

·         Electricity

·         Refrigeration
 

Other inventions and discoveries have become essential, for instance:

·         Fire

·         Antibiotics

·         Surgery

·         Insulation in our homes

·         Medical discoveries about our health
 

This topic tends to run away with me—the more I think about it, the more I realize how entrenched I am in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and what a debt I owe to all who came before me for their contributions to life.

If I can distill my topic to its essence it would be this:

All I need to survive physically is air, food and water; heat in winter, shade in summer.

All I need to survive mentally is something to read and think about; someone to talk with about it.

All I need to survive spiritually is a faith community and the love that sustains us all.

Make yourself a list and see what’s absolutely essential to you. Don’t need to give up anything—just appreciate all you have and do and are.

Have a Joy-full day!