Of all the people in your life, who would you consider to be necessary? We might think of your parents or a spouse. However, Karen Ehman says that sometimes the necessary people are the ones who are perpetually overlooked, the ones we take for granted the most. She explains how we can take it upon on ourselves to make their day by noticing them.
But who are the necessary people?
“In my mind, necessary people are the people that help you get life done. They bring you your mail, they teach your children, they bag your groceries, they clean your teeth, they collect your garbage. All of these people are necessary in your life, and so often we never think to just pause in our busy day and thank them for what they do faithfully for us and for a family all year long.”
In an effort to live with an other-centered mindset, Karen suggests taking time to thank those necessary people in our lives for what they do every day.
“On a random day, for no reason at all, to stop and to verbally leave thank them for what they do for you all year long, or maybe even do something fun. We’ve left out a batch of brownies covered in and plastic wrap for the garbage collector once when our kids were really little.”
If we didn’t have necessary people in our lives, doing jobs so we don’t have too, we would be much busier than we already are. The smallest gestures of admiration towards those necessary people in our lives who are used to being overlooked can have a massive impact on their day and could open the door for God to work through us in their lives.
Karen Ehman has been described as profoundly practical, engagingly funny and downright real. Her passion is to provide women, wives and mothers with creative tools and doable ideas to help them both simplify life and glorify God. She the Director of the Proverbs 31 Ministries national speaking team and is a contributor to Focus on the Family’s magazine Thriving Family.
Listen, love, repeat
