What do you Need in 2014?

“That fierce imprisonment in the self is but the obverse of the self-giving which is absolute reality.”

C.S. Lewis

After returning to the U.S in May of 2013 I struggled almost every day as I attempted to replace Want with Need. No matter how often I tried to embrace a life of only need I found myself infected by “affluenza desires” that continued to keep me captive.

It seems like an eternity since that morning in Kenya in August of 2011. At the time I was reflecting on the new life choices I was suddenly facing as I started to give away many of the things I had come to appreciate in my life. I was downsizing my world and trying to look beyond the mirror. It wasn’t easy. I had for a long time based much of my worth as a person on the accumulation of property and material success. In many ways I still do as 2014 arrives on my doorstep and it continues to be an ongoing battle. I still haven’t learned to be satisfied with only the things money can’t buy. Now at an age where the remaining sands in my hour glass are much more easily counted I often feel I have all but run out of time to change my destiny.

I couldn’t have imagined at that time that I would  be contacted three years later by a tiny family that would visit the same African country and one of the missions Orchid would eventually embrace there. On this New Years day I have learned from them what it really means to surrender to a true calling to follow a life focused on others and live a life of Need.

I asked my new friends for permission to share a part of an email exchange we had on this New Years day. I was so moved by it that I felt compelled to share it with all of you. They asked that it be told in a way that would not seem heavy handed and that I remind the reader that theirs was a personal decision and right for them. They have no illusions it is a choice many would and should not make. I promised to do my best.

I came to know the family after they became Orchid Roots this fall and I finally expanded my thank you communications with them so I could share more about myself and learn more about who they were and their personal philanthropic mission.

I knew they were from Australia but that was all. I imagined they might have a home in Sydney or Melbourne and that they had likely traveled the world as many Aussies do. What I discovered was quite a different picture.

This family it turns out had taken all the steps I have yet been unable to make and are indeed living a life based on need alone.

The email response I received when I asked about their lives was as follows:

Who hasn’t had a Tom Sawyer dream like this at some point in their lives? Just packing up everything and taking our show on the road to see what lies in wait around the next bend. It’s something many of us dreamed about as kids. Then as we got older and the responsibilities and possessions piled up we stopped having that dream. We replaced it with how we can survive into old age and get our kids through college.