Are you familiar with the song The Bear Necessities?

It’s from the popular Disney movie The Jungle Book.

I’m sure I saw it as a kid — but just recently saw it again with my kids.

It’s amazing what you hear — and how you hear it — 30 years later.

As I watched my young kids dance about with Baloo and Mowgli, I was struck by the lyrics — and how appropriate the message seemed for most stages of life, but especially for campus life — during some years that can be spent obsessing over, and chasing after, a lot of things that don’t really matter.

Here, have a listen:

They do such a good job of convincing us that life should be simple — or at least much more simple than we typically make it.

And I wonder how much more enjoyable life would be, if we could only embrace the way of thinking, and choose to live a more simple existence?

What would need to change?

What would you deem important enough to make your list of “bare necessities?”

What could you get rid of — mentally, emotionally, or physically — that would make your life easier?

Now what will it take for you to go for it — to make change in your life — and to ask God to bless and multiply your efforts towards a more simple existence?