This week the word prompt is Want.
SLEEP.
I fell asleep and my lovely hubby texted me and scared me awake. But that meant my "want" to get the post written and my "need" to get sleep were at war with each other and sleep won out. :)
But seriously... what does that word want mean anyways?
It can be a pointless thing.. because so often what we want gets supplanted by need or desire for something different. Our "wants" are often so very fleeting, or in light of a bigger picture, deemed as lacking in importance.
So should we really truly pay attention to those wants?
Wouldn't it be far more advantageous to focus on need?
Need is different than wants. Wants are nice I grant you that.. They are. Like I want that green shirt rather than the pink one... Why.. because green is better.. but the need is actually more simple.... I NEED to have clothes to wear. Clothes to cover my body that fit in with the weather, societal concerns and such like. The want, really, how important must it be?
We live in a world it seems were WANTS are supplanting need. I get told I need "take time for myself", that "I NEED to focus on me and what I want out of life". But you know what.. I DON"T NEED to do that. Focusing on me comes naturally.. and God wants me to do more than focus on ME and what I WANT.
Jesus didn't WANT to die for us. He didn't. He gave his will over the Lord God and did what was NEEDED. If he had merely focused on his own wants... then the whole world would have been condemned forever.
Satan has done an admirable job of bringing our selfishness into the front and making it seem so natural and right. Conversations of "well, if it works for you it's all good" or "Do what seems right to you", or "it's a sacrifice to care for your children", or "let the village raise your child". It's all Satan getting on to us about looking at our own wants before we see the needs of those surrounding us in our lives.
What I want is transitory. Selfish desires. Short-term satisfaction.
What I NEED is sustaining.. clothes, shelter, food, faith in God. The wants make it nicer and show our individuality... but the needs are basic, if we see the needs more, I think it will make the wants more sustainable, and help us to see the needs of those around me, around us, more clearly don't you think?
......
yes I know... longer than the normal five minutes! I am forgiven? :)