Sara Groves says it best -

I love Sara Groves! Here is a shout out to her in case you are not familiar. So many of her songs challenge and encourage my walk with the Lord. Check her out on I-tunes if you are unfamiliar. She has a song that hit me like a ton of bricks one night in Kenya. It is called, "All I Need," and it is on her album, The Other Side of Something. Here are the lyrics:

Newly married, new apartment
All our furniture was saved from the dump.
Yes, sir. Maybe we can afford a trash can next month.
All I need is a seat for 2 and my love for you.

New baby, new life
We will teach him to speak French.
We've got no money, so we'll make it all ourselves.
I'll make the curtains, and you make the shelves.
All I need is a power saw and a new sewing machine.
Love....and a sewing machine.

I need - this house needs a little something.
That bare mantle doesn't look so good.
Someone told me of a man who makes animals from drift wood.
All I need is your monthly bonus for a wooden walrus.

I need - the Smith's are coming over, this house needs some renovation.
Just a wall or two, just a little room, and a few decorations.
All I need is a sectional and a satellite TV, darkwood cabinets that were custom built for me.
A painting by that guy who paints with his feet. That's all I need.

The song concludes with a random list of things that people say that they "need."

We use that term so flippantly. Even tonight at dinner, I told my roommate that I needed another crescent roll. Really? Is that a genuine need of mine? Just to piggyback on my soapbox of entitlement.....have you stopped to taken inventory of what you truly need in life? Do you have genuine areas of need in your life where God has chosen not to provide? We don't have the freedom to interchange God providing our needs versus our wants. We often try to justify our "needs" to ourselves and others. It makes us feel better, I think.

There were a few times in Kenya where I felt hunger pains. Not because there wasn't plenty of food, but more mental hunger pains. You know, I "needed" some ice cream. Heck, drop the cream, I would have taken just ICE! One night as I began to journal, this Sara Groves song came on. What we truly need is really so minimal. Especially in America. It is hard for us to even think about what our genuine NEEDS are. A roof over our heads? Even that looks different to me now. Would a metal roof on top of a mud house meet my needs? It certainly works for some people. It's as if we start this life with the attitude of "all we need is love" just like the song. However before long we are in need of wooden walruses and paintings by a paralyzed man.

I was laughing with a team mate of mine as we were in a market in Nairobi on the last day of our journey. Several of us were frantically perusing the market for last minute souvenirs. I colllect trinkets from many of my mission's journeys. I found these perfect bookends carved into the shape of an elephant. I had let her listen to the Sara Groves song the night before. I laughed as I told her that all I needed were some wooden elephant book ends for my house. I only paid a few dollars for them, and they look really good on my bookshelf. There I go, justifying my needs..... :)