Posts Tagged "needs"

Wants vs. Needs

Posted by Pat Stewart on Jan 20, 2014 in My Blog, Think About This | 4 comments

Perspective.  Along the journey of life, we certainly have all sorts of needs…physical needs like good health, food and water and shelter…oh, and lets NOT forget about clothing.  Humans also have emotional needs such as love, joy, acceptance, respect…and the list goes on.  Then, for so many of us a paramount need is an active spiritual life…a connection with God.  To me, that is my highest priority.  Chocolate ice cream runs a close second!  (God knows that I’m kidding.) I saw the attached graphic from Lessons Learned in Life and it just really hit home.  We THINK there are things that we really need.  Sometimes, we even get irate over it when we don’t get what we THINK we need.  Like I think I need a Kindle Fire.  I could really use one.  But, do I really NEED it?  No, but I sure as heck do WANT one. It makes me recall my first few days after my diagnosis with breast cancer.  Over the years, I had lost both parents, been divorced, and had experienced a few other significant adversities that I will not name because they involve the privacy of other people.  So, God and I made it through each of those very painful times, but my thoughts about the breast cancer diagnosis ran along the lines of, “What am I to do with THIS?”  Lots of pondering, contemplating.  LOTS!!! For me, to be able to get through the surgeries, chemotherapy, and the side effects of the chemotherapy I had to strip myself down to answering the questions, “What is my bottom line?”  “What is it that I just absolutely have to have…what is that greatest need?” The answers were that I HAD to HAVE God and that my greatest NEED was to live in Eternity with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  That was and is my greatest need.    Of course, my pondering continued and I had and still do have many other needs.  My relationship with my daughters and grandchildren, my brother, all my family and those great blessings of amazing friends who are, indeed, chosen family.  I need a church family that loves me and supports me as I do them.  I need opportunities to serve my Lord, my community and others through Christ.  They are all keenly important needs to me. At any given time, we find ourselves on the giving/serving end or on the needing end.  I’ve been on both.  You most likely have, too. I know so many people right now that are sick, suffering, have extreme grief,  whose hearts are breaking and ones who are dying.  We wish WE could do something to help lighten the load.  Sometimes there is and other times we might feel useless.  There is something I have observed in our fast-paced technological advancements.  On Facebook, I see so many people that request prayer from time to time.  Its public, to a certain extent, and I find it interesting that I have  FB “friends” in their late 80s, or my age, raising young children, in college who all are on “their” journeys and have needs and wants…and express them, thankfully.  What an opportunity of widening the circle of prayer! If you’ve ever found yourself in one of the true need categories, many of you know just how valuable and coveted each prayer that is lifted up for you is!  So no need for us  to feel useless, I believe prayer is the Number 1 way we can help. I have been amazed by people in the direst of circumstances  and in places we don’t want to...