[excessive essentials]

They were just butter knives. About 15 of 'em. Then there were forks, two sizes of spoons and numerous sharp knives of all sorts. But I saw her eyes get big as she watched me arrange them in the drawer, and I felt so uncomfortable by the time she asked, "why do you need so many knives?"

We explained that they're just hand-me-downs and leftovers from others, but still, it got to me. Her kitchen in Africa has three knives - one for butter, one for meat and one for cutting up everything else. And news flash - her life has not been ruined. She is no worse off. Her family still eats. She still has friends.

Compared to her kitchen, those 15 butter knives were excessive, but in the U.S., I think we often use the label for only those with certain types of houses or cars or salaries or furniture or clothes. We define wealth according to brands and see many wants as needs. We need cell phones with internet. We need a new swim suit for the summer. We need the next great thing, the next fad, the next technology. But do we really? Do we really need all 15 butter knives?

I'm not here to judge how anyone chooses to spend their money either. I'm just as guilty if not more, but I don't think it would hurt any of us to take some time and re-examine what we really need. I mean, maybe this economic valley is a good thing right now. Don't get me wrong, I know it has hurt us all in different ways and different extremities, but could it also be a blessing in disguise? Could it also be a chance to realize all the things we have that we don't even realize are excess?

I know I've said it before, but that's what I love that about getting to know internationals. They keep me in-check with the things we take for granted here. Like not having to lock our door constantly or put an electric wire around our farm for safety. Like having the family I do. Like knowing that we have enough money to get by and enough blessings to forget.

Gandhi once said, "Live simply that others may simply live." And in these anxious times of tight budgets, threatened job security and bleak futures, I think it's important for all of us to remember that. To remember that we have more wealth here in terms of extras, opportunities, freedoms, safety, possibilities and choices then so many people in the world. To remember that excess isn't a term only reserved for those with huge houses, expensive cars and luxurious dinner outings. Because necessities for me may be luxury for someone else and vice versa, but it's all in perspective. It's all about having the courage to try and see ourselves from another's view point, and it's all about realizing, once again, that we take nothing with us when we go.

My grandma passed away March 14. And as I spent time at home that week reflecting on a lot of things, I realized that all the genealogy records she kept, all the newspaper articles she cut out, all the stuff she saved that meant a lot to her were really just things in the end. She wasn't an excessive or materialistic woman by any means, but still it hit me - we take nothing with us when we go. Instead I have her string of pearls, her Bible and a lot of good memories from growing up only two miles away. Some material things yes, but they didn't go with her.

So who's going to care about what kind of cell phone we had when we go? Who's going to care about the type of house we lived in, the car we drove, the clothes we wore, the purse we carried, the kitchen accessory we just had to have? Who's going to want our extra butter knives, extra t.v.'s, extra shoes, extra stuff? I'm not asking us to give all of those things away right now, but maybe it wouldn't hurt if we tried to see them for what they are. Just things. Just excess. And maybe it wouldn't hurt to be thankful that we have the ability to be excessive and the ability to change it.