The Bare Necessities
The race has officially come to an end. While reflecting on my time, the song “The Bare Necessities” from the movie The Jungle Book came to mind, oddly enough. I want to share some of the lyrics with you all!
“The Bare Necessities”
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities, old mother nature’s recipes
That bring the bare necessities of life
Wherever I wander, wherever I roam
I couldn’t be fonder of my big home
The bees are buzzin’ in the tree
To make some honey just for me
When you look under the rocks and plants
And take a glance at the fancy ants, then maybe try a few
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They’ll come to you!
…
And don’t spend your time lookin’ around
For something you want that can’t be found
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin’ about it
I’ll tell you something true
The bare necessities of life will come to you
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife (yeah man!)
I mean the bare necessities
That’s why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
Yeah, with just the bare necessities of life (yeah man!)
From my time on the race, I have realized that life is more simple than we make it. We are called to not take on anything from this broken world. The Lord tells us to but all our “worries and cares” on to him:
““Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.””
Matthew 11:28-30 TPT
With all this, I want to leave you with the five biggest takeaways I have from my time on the race, ways in which I have embraced the mindset of “The Bare Necessities”:
- Seeing what you do have in life radically changes your perspective
- Made lists each day of what I had – bed, toilet, shower, home, food, birds, flowers, friends, laughter, chocolate, etc.
- From “The Bare Necessities”: “don’t spend your time lookin’ around For something you want that can’t be found”
- We are blessed and will normally have more than enough. Focusing on what you don’t have gets you nowhere and normally puts you in a negative mindset.
- Seeing what you have as a gift then thanking God for it helps you hold it less tightly and be more grateful for it
- Nothing we have has been righteously earned or deserved. I have no right to a home with a bed, shower, toilet and kitchen or to food. Those are all blessings that I have had my whole life because of the grace of God.
- From “The Bear Necessities”: “I couldn’t be fonder of my big home. The bees are buzzin’ in the tree To make some honey just for me”
- Jesus provides all that we need and normally extras to bring us joy since he loves us so much!
- Things/situations/problems are normally not as big as you make them – Temporary: here today and gone tomorrow
- Quick story time: On my last travel day back home to America from Thailand, I was incredibly exhausted and just wanted to be in a home where I could finally sleep. Out of exhaustion, I let the littlest of things get to me and I lacked patience and kindness. I asked Jesus where he was and he showed me how he was right beside me; I heard the words, “This is only temporary. You will be home soon enough and be able to catch up on all your lost sleep.” I realized that I was letting something temporary and little take me down. I failed to see Jesus and how much love he had to give me in that moment because I was stuck in my own annoyances. I don’t want to miss out on the love Jesus has for me and wants me to share with other people simply because my current situation is not ideal.
- Seeking Jesus’s voice in all things is what is most important – first seek the Lord’s voice NOT getting caught up in all the others voices around you
- We are all on different journeys and all have the same Holy Spirit talking to us, guiding us on our journeys. Therefore, we are called to use discernment, going where the Lord is calling us to go and do what he is telling us to do. With that, it is also important to seek community and ask them if they could pray into what you feel the Lord calling you into. Overall, I believe it to be most important to talk to the Lord first then seek community (other’s voice).
- Holding people’s faults against them is exhausting and you miss the beauty of what the Lord has in store when you do
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- The Lord is the ultimate judge and he will judge them rightly
- Ask the Lord to meet you where you are at and for him to pour his love over you. He will see your anger, sadness, pain, etc. better than anyone else ever could.
- Ask the Lord how he sees the person that has hurt you, as how he sees them is perfect and how we are called to see them. We are all messy humans and I have noticed that I am normally not any better than the person that hurt me.
- “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 7:3-5
- Holding their faults is a burden that the Lord desires to carry for you so you can focus fully on him and his love for you and that one that hurt you
- It ain’t a bare necessity of life
- From “The Bare Necessities”: “Forget about your worries and your strife (yeah man!)”
