Love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul and with all your strength. Mark 12:30
Essential is defined as “absolutely something with which we cannot do without.” Necessary is defined as “something that is important but not essential.”
In the early 1980’s, our family and friends of our family spent a weekend at at a mountain lake cottage in late winter. During the night an unexpected snowstorm hit, and we awoke the next morning to blankets of snow and ice. Normally, I would consider this fun and exciting, but we had limited food, water, warm clothes, electricity, and chocolate! There was little chance of getting down the mountain in one piece, so we settled in to ride it out.
I began to quietly survey the food situation and the speed with which 4 kids and 4 adults were consuming it, and I quickly deduced that our essentials would be depleted long before the snow melted. In an effort to save us all, I began to “squirrel away” food. In my mind, this was essential. I would have made it work, too, if our Black Lab hadn’t begun to find the food and eat it. The dog outed my plan of survival for all, and the other 7 started a mutiny based on the incorrect thinking that I was only thinking of myself.
It was at this time when we decided to brave the roads, pack up, and head down the mountain in our respective cars. Our friends slipped and slid, but made it down. We, on the other hand, slipped and slid so close to the edge of the mountain that Randy made all the women, children, and dogs exit the car. We walked down and left him to maneuver down the mountain.
As all of us were waiting and watching, along with a ranger, at the bottom of the mountain, we saw a most amazing thing. Randy was backing the car ever so slowly, but successfully, down the mountain. As we were watching in awe, the ranger asked, “Who is this guy, and is God his co pilot?” My friend quickly replied, “I hope so because God is the only one who would ride with him!”
It was later when everyone was safe and reunited that I realized that I had confused essential with necessary. Life and being together was essential while food was only necessary. The love of God is essential, while material things are not. In this Christmas season, it is good to take time away to ponder on what is essential and what is just necessary.