Up until a few months ago I couldn’t remember when was the last time I sat and watched a kids movie. My kids have been long grown and much of the kids shows and movies they used to watch I haven’t seen in decades.

But they had their favorites. My daughter loved Barney. So I ended up learning and singing the songs of that big purple dinosaur to her just before she went to sleep or on long trips in the car. And I couldn’t just sing the song ya know? It had to sound like the Barney voice too. She’d be dialed in and would ask me to sing them over and over. I was never a big fan of Barney. But my daughter loved him and that was all that mattered.

For my son it was The Jungle Book.

He loved that movie. So as I was sitting there with my grandson, as he was watching it for the first time, I felt my foot start tapping, my shoulders started shaking, and the lyrics came back as if I had been singing them all along all the years.

With “Baloo” the bear singing about the “Bare Necessities“:

“Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature’s recipes
That bring the bare necessities of life

Wherever I wander
Wherever I roam
I couldn’t be fonder of my big home
The bees are buzzin’ in the tree
To make some honey just for me

When you look under the rocks and plants
And take a glance at the fancy ants
Then maybe try a few
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They’ll come to you!”

And I mean, I can nail these songs.

So my grandson is just diggin it. Then I drop into the ” I wanna be like you” song sung by King Louie and we are dancin and jammin and havin a total blast. So much so, that his Ma and his Aunt are looking at me like, “If you sing that song ONE more time….”

And for the first time, I am actually paying attention to the lyrics and what they are actually saying.

Days later they’re still playing in my mind. And I’m thinking about the bare necessities of this life. The basics. The things we absolutely need to survive and the things that we want.

Those two things are often very different. 

What’s worse, is the bible specifically talks about how we shouldn’t worry about the bare necessities of life. How we should trust and believe in God’s provision.

I’ve written blogs about how we should be Anxious for Nothing.

And yet, I find myself doing just the opposite. Not only worrying about the things I want to happen in this life, but then actually having the audacity to question God’s provision?

Because God ALWAYS provides a way. But sometimes it’s just not the way you’d want or expect, right?

So you find yourself kinda thanking God but also questioning Him. Like, “Father thank you for helping me, thank you for providing for me, thank you for meeting my needs….but does it have to be given like this?”

Does it have to come this way?!

Yes. Yes it does. That is the subtle answer that follows that question. As if by stating the obvious provides less of a zing once you acknowledge it.

Ya sometimes God’s provision isn’t gonna show up looking like we would expect. Sometimes the package isn’t gonna look quite right, but it’s contents are gonna be spot on.

Sometimes our desires are a reflection of a life focus that needs adjusted. A mental adjustment of trust and appreciation for the simple things in this life. The bare necessities, that will come to you.

You don’t have to fight for it or spend hours striving over it. Just simply trust in God’s provision and accept it as He provides it.

Stop putting so much energy into worrying about things that are beyond your control or above your pay grade. Sometimes the bare necessities are all you really need and when God provides that, you should be thankful.

Because anything beyond that, doesn’t really matter.

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