What is Essential?

 A plaque in the office of minister, TV host, and author Fred Rogers read, "What is essential is invisible to the eye." It is a line from the children's book, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The complete line reads, "It is only in the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." 

To really dig into this concept, I looked up the word, essential. Merriam Webster's version says, "of the utmost importance, something basic, something necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable." Interesting. 

Knowing the kind of person Fred Rogers was, I would imagine his "essential" was the Lord Himself. Good choice. The only choice, in my opinion. When God is "of the utmost importance" or Someone deemed "necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable" in our lives, He becomes the Source of everything that flows from our lives. Proverbs 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. God is essential, yet invisible to our eyes. 1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. If I'm putting my faith in gaining wealth, material things, fitness, or any other worldly thing, it will be short-lived. None of those things are bad things, per se, but to me they are not essential. My faith doesn't belong on them. They are important, sure, but I can live without them. Psalm 49:16-17 Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.  "You can't take it with you" is so true. What I can't live without is a personal relationship with the Lord, and His promise of eternal life in heaven. John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 

The rest of the quote from The Little Prince refers to the qualities of people that are often invisible to the human eye, but felt by the heart. Compassion, empathy, understanding, love, as well as emotional pain. Sometimes we judge with our eyes or what we've been told in our ears by someone else's judgment, and we forget how much that can hurt someone else. We may also forget how much that hurts our own hearts and how much it hurts God. Psalm 103:13-14 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. If we remember that the Lord is here but invisible, perhaps it would be helpful to remember the feelings of others in the same way. I love the THINK acronym (True Helpful Inspiring Necessary Kind) to help me to remember this. Lord, please help me to remember that! 

We waste a lot of time buying up things we think are essential to fill voids left by people or our own sadness. We fill up our homes with things we think will make us happier. We fill up our basements with "essentials," just in case the world goes cuckoo nutso. We worry we won't have enough. We fret because there is seemingly no one good left to trust and the world feels like it's falling apart. We worry about broken things, the kids, things we can't control, jobs, illnesses, and everything in between. We find things to worry about when there's nothing to worry about. I know some of these are valid concerns, but I also believe more in how powerful and merciful our God is. Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. It's not always easy to see evidence of a torrential downpour and believe in the coming rainbow, but that's exactly what faith enables us to do. That's exactly what God provides for us. Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. He won't just meet some of our needs, but all of them. Why would He do that? Because He loves us. It's that simple. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us even while we were still messing up, meets our needs, and daily carries our burdens. Only a Father who loves every part of us would do all of these things. 

  When we trust God for our needs, we no longer have to believe that the things of this world are "essential" and God is just floating around "out there" invisible. God is tangible when we trust Him with every area our lives, not just when things are going our way. He is felt and heard when we know Him. When we trust God instead of people–especially people in high places–we can know that we've put our faith in the One who knows us best and knows what is best for us.  Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

People may judge us for the missteps we make in life and even in our faith journeys, but God understands us, and even my childhood TV mentor and pastor, Fred Rogers placed a plaque in his office to keep his mind on "what is essential." We have all made mistakes and poor choices in life, but it's never too late to pick a new path and it's never to late to trust the Lord with our lives. The state of the world should give us all something to think about when choosing who or what to put our faith in. People and things will fail us, but God will not. 

Our faith becomes stronger the more we place our focus on God. Peter found this out when he stepped out of the boat toward Jesus, became afraid, looked away from Him, and then began to sink. We can't take our eyes off of Him, no matter what kind of storm we seem to be walking through or what the world looks like right now. For me, every day with God is essential and I can tell when I haven't listened to or talked to Him enough. I will be keeping my eyes on Him!