Talking essentials

All across the internet there are countless blogs and websites and video clips that talk about the essentials of this or that. The top 10 essential things you need to raise a baby well, among which are state of the art baby moniters, changing bags worth hundreds and nappies that tell you in a soft British accent when they are ready to be changed(!). Please. Essentials?! The 5 essential things you need to communicate to your husband every day. Ok, don't get me wrong, these can be very good and helpful and edifying and so on. However they can also be unattainable standards that we set up for ourselves. I dont have the money for those 10 essential things so I am going to be the worst mother in the world! An obvious conclusion... Or I didnt manage to tell my husband I love him, I respect him, I appreciate him, I like him and I desire him today so I must be a complete failure as a wife. (See how I subtly slipped in what I think the 5 essential things to communicate to your husband? Smooth).

The actual definition of 'essential' is something absolutely necessary or extremely important. It means something so important as to be indespensible. Last post I wrote about our basic needs and how we really dont need very many things at all in order to survive or indeed thrive. The essential list is pretty minimal. Aside from the obvious basics like food, water, shelter etc (and that's pretty much it) there is one essential thing that we cannot survive without, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I said I had discovered what I really cannot live without. The answer is LOVE. We are all hard-wired to love and be loved in return and without this basic need then we really have no way of finding joy in our lives. Babies who do not recieve love in the first 6 months suffer health problems and can even die from a lack of human affection/contact and this is even when they are provided with nutrition and shelter. Amazing! On the days when we had little to no money but chose love, those were the days that were the most joyful of all. I have also had days when I have had plenty and have not walked in love and it has not been a good day, for me and those around me!

When we look further at the definition, it says 'essential' implies something belonging to the very nature of a thing and therefore being incapable of removal without destroying the thing itself or its character. Is that not love?! God is love and we are created in His image. It is essential! Without love we cannot be who we were created to be. The old testeament rarely speaks of the word 'love' without preceeding it with endless, limitless, unfailing or eternal. The new testament tells us that we are to live by love. There is no other way to live. John 15 talks of Jesus as the vine. We choose to abide (live) in Him and His love and as we grow with our roots in Him, the resulting fruit will be... love!

Love is such a huge subject and something God is really speaking to me about at the moment but basically, I want to prove that God loves people because I love them. I want to personify love because it is who I was created to be. I love because He first loved me.

This is love essential and without it I cannot live.