Every once in a while, when I open up the program from which I produce my blog, it will prompt me with an idea for a post. Sometimes they’re ridiculous; sometimes they’re interesting. I always appreciate the help from artificial intelligence because my own intelligence is questionable most of the time.

Yesterday, when I opened up the program, it asked me What are three things that you couldn’t live without? That got me to thinking. The indisputable answer is air, food, and water. After discarding those three ideas as being too obvious, I started thinking about the question. I decided I was going to take a realistic shot at coming up with three things that are so important to me that my life would be unimaginable without them. Furthermore, I decided that I would use the word “things” literally; in other words, I couldn’t say spouse, siblings, children, and grandchildren. And yes, I know that’s four. But I couldn’t live without any of those four. So there.

This season I’m reading a devotional based on the Gospel of Matthew, 5:3-12 — the beatitudes. According to St. Matthew’s gospel, Jesus spoke a Sermon on the Mount in which he gave the people who had taken to following him around some pretty surprising information:

In other words, be humble and kind, and live a simple life.

But even with a simple life, there are things that would make life more difficult for me if they went away. I came up with what I would consider three things I couldn’t live without.

1. I couldn’t live my life without a rosary. I own enough rosaries that I don’t have to take more than five or six steps to find one. Of course, I wouldn’t die without a rosary. I have the prayers memorized, and I could count on my fingers. Frankly, that’s what I do when I’m exercising and it’s what I did/do when I had/have a CT scan or an MRI. It takes me almost exactly 10 minutes to recite one of the mysteries of the rosary. It is a helpful way to keep track of time if you are in a machine that will explode and you will begin bleeding out of your eyes if you have metal objects on you.
2. I hate to admit this, but if I’m thinking realistically, I couldn’t live without my iPhone. I have most everything thing I need in life on my cell phone. I have my contact list, my Kindle books, photos, internet access, alarms, texting ability, GPS, and much more. Oh, and the ability to make or take a telephone call. Remember those, Kids?
3. My paper calendar is as important to me as my bible. I hope God won’t send down lightning as I write this statement. I used to keep my calendar on my phone and iPad. But I lost things I thought I had added to my calendar. I also dealt with Google’s confusion about daylight savings time going from AZ to Colorado or the other way around. I know, I know. It’s probably not Google who was confused, but me. Still, it became more comforting to me to keep a paper calendar. The only problem is that if I were to ever lose my calendar, I may as well not get out of bed any more. Between Bill’s appointments in two different states, and my appointments, mostly in Colorado, it’s like juggling ice cubes. But every morning, I open up my calendar to today’s date, and announce to Bill and Alexa what our plans are for today. Bill won’t remember, but Alexa will remind me.

There you have it, Folks. I’m not sure what that says about me. What about you? What are your three things?