God Gives Us What We Need 
A few months back, my wife and I helped move my oldest son into his first real apartment. He was moving to start his first real job and was excited and cautious at the same time. Moving him in reminded me of when his mother and I were first starting out. We received an old couch from her aunt, some kitchen supplies from my mom, and many other things from friends and relatives so we could begin this new journey in our lives. We didn’t have much. But we had one another, and we had love. Looking back, those were great times.

Sometimes, we think material possessions give evidence of a life lived well. Artifacts from our travels, collections that take time to amass and provide clues to our interests, and various pictures and prints that adorn our walls. However, those who have lived lives of hardship and pain have many of the same items. Not only doesn’t all our stuff amount to real evidence of what our life has really been like, but it doesn’t make our lives better either.

What makes a life well lived will be the love and compassion that we have experienced, primarily with God who loves us so deeply. Due to that love, God gives to us what we need, not always what we want. More stuff will never amount to anything in comparison to what God provides to us. If we reflected on that truth more, perhaps we would spend less time accumulating things and more time simply loving.

On that moving day, I wanted to give my son more material things than was possible. However, what he really needs then, now, and always is my love.

-Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS