Saturday, August 13, 2011

Be Careful What You Ask For: or, What a Month This Has Been!!

My New Year's Resolution this month is to "set my heart less upon the things of the world".  I should have thought more about the implications of that resolution before I set it.  *grin*

Seriously, it's not been a good month, thus far, in many respects - and all of them deal at least in some way with my resolution.  It's like God said:

You want to set your heart less upon the things of the world?  OK, buckle up, 'cause when I get done with you this month, you'll have less upon which to set your heart than you ever imagined a couple of weeks ago.  

I'm not going to detail everything here, but higher than expected costs for various things aren't the biggest part of it - nor are they the hardest to handle emotionally.  Money?  That's been a trial.  Honor of the world?  Check.  Ego?  Check.  Recognition?  Check.  You name it, if it deals with this resolution, it's hit over the last couple of weeks like a personal resolution tsunami.

I still have two weeks to go this month.  I've never rescinded a New Year's Resolution since I started this effort almost four years ago, but . . . it's tempting this month.

All I can do at this point is strap myself in and hope I'm a better person somehow at the end of the month than I was at the beginning.  After all, that was the point of the whole resolution process when I started, so I probably shouldn't complain when I picked a resolution like this one. 

Any suggestions? 

4 comments:

Matthew said...

It is funny how just when you think you are getting a handle on things, you get jumped up to the next level, isn't it... :D

In my line of work, I work directly with difficult people, and my last position was a real zinger. Honestly, I couldn't even find the desire to want to forgive, and so I had to start with asking for just that. Turns out that although I thought I understood the Atonement to some extent, I was really just playing in the shallow water, and this experience was like arriving at the drop off point, when you realize just how big and deep the lake really is.

Anyway, I guess all I can say is that I feel your pain, pruning hurts. :)

For what it's worth, though, your blog posts are tremendously valuable to me and have really given me much to think about. Thanks!

Mama D said...

Since Ray has been in meetings all day and is now picking up one of our daughters across state lines, I will take the liberty of saying THANKS, Matthew! I know your comment will mean a lot to Ray.

"Pruning hurts." Thanks for that perspective. The reminder helps.

Ray, don't give up on your resolution, even this month. You WILL be better at the end of the month than you are now. We're in this together - and together we can handle the trials. Love you!!!

Patty said...

Hmmm... I'm keeping this one off of my resolution list for awhile!! lol
I hope things smooth out for the remainder of August. Sounds like you could use a break.

Anonymous said...

If you're asking for advice Ray,I'd say be careful what you wish for.

Life sucks double imho,and I've decided not to examine it too closely but take what comes-of course I fail at this as I'm a big examiner of life.I'm just not sure that is the most useful strategy for my mental health.I guess I'm saying, take care of yourself because,as much as I love your insight,I hate to think of others paying too high a price for my comfort.

I'd rather you came back around when the irony is less pressing.Thanks for being a mensch though.