So...essentials. I personally feel that life should be all about the essentials. Keep your eye on the A Items and the B Items tend to fall into place. Do I always focus on only the essentials? Absolutely not. Simplifying sounds easy but in actuality, its extremely difficult. The B Items tend to be alot of fun and I, probably more than your average person, am easily distracted. I can think for HOURS about clothes, my hair, scrapbooking, Gossip Girl, the past, food, purses (specifically the new D&G ones I have been seeing lately - YUM!), etsy, makeup...you name it. I am pretty shallow (which, if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you already know).

What is the most essential thing in life? I am going to start with FAITH. Recently, I read through the entire book of Job as part of our church's read thru the Bible in one year program. A righteous man who had been very abundantly blessed lost EVERYTHING. One day he had it, the next it was all gone. Entire family - gone. House and posessions - gone. Friends - gone or accused him of greivous sin. Yet, he remained faithful to the Lord. He got through it without relinquishing his faith and was blessed with even more than he had before.

I have never gone through anything remotely like what Job went through. I have been extremely blessed in my life to have never had a "tragedy" (and I live in constant fear that my number will soon be up and tragedy is just around the corner...I live in wait for the other shoe to drop). I wonder if I would be able to keep faith through such tragedy, or even much less. I think about Rick Burgess and what his family went through this year. He said the only way he and his family got through it was with Jesus.

Since, I am constantly worried about it (and I am a crazy "must have a plan" type person), I think about what I would do in such a tragic situation. I would feel so hopeless. What would I do? What would be my contingency plan? I honestly have no idea. I think it would be even harder for me, someone who has been blessed so much to deal with it. However, I do know that I would cry out to the Lord for help. I wouldn't understand. I'd be upset. I may even be completely destroyed. I know my life would never be the same, but I hope I would not lose my faith. Without faith, you truly have no hope. Without hope, you have nothing.

So, for the first essential I have to go with faith. How about you?