Sunday, November 16, 2014

Prone to Wander

Is it as difficult for you to do things that you know are good for you as it is for me sometimes? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and trying to figure out what it is in us that makes us resist doing healthy, happy, uplifting things even though we know they will makes us healthier, happier, and just better. I know it differs from person to person. Some people love eating vegetables and are happy to shun fatty, sugary, over-processed foods. Some people love running. Some people hate taking out the trash. Some people hate doing dishes. Some people love learning new things, reading educational books. Some people love practicing the piano. Others don't love these things at all.

Me, well there is a lot that I know I should be doing--that I know is good for me. Some of it I may have been born enjoying. Some of it is easier to do now because I've made a habit of it. Some of it, I still have a hard time making myself do it every day, even though I feel so good after I've done it. It is frustrating.

So a few months ago, I made up a motto for myself and this is it: "Do the things you know are good for you, even when you don't feel like doing them." It may seem silly, but I literally say this to myself out loud sometimes when I am staring at a plateful of vegetables or looking at the floor that needs to be vacuumed (that is a weird word) or when I find myself wanting to pass by someone who needs help carrying their groceries in from their car instead of helping them. And I find myself saying this to myself at night when I feel tired and would rather get in bed than say a prayer--or when I would rather pick up a fluffy book before I have read in the scriptures that day.

And this phrase has helped me. I still hate that I resist things that are good for me though. I came across a scripture in Jeremiah the other day that really hit home with me.

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

I am a visual learner so I really like the image in this verse--the idea that not only do we too often forget and neglect the "fountain of living waters", Jesus Christ, who knows exactly what is difficult for us--who knows exactly how we feel--who knows exactly how to help and strengthen and heal us--

but in place of Him, the only water that really refreshes, cleanses, and fills, we make for ourselves and our lives, broken cisterns (pits or wells that were used to hold water) that won't even hold the water or the sustenance and joy that we thought they would give us. I feel this sometimes at the end of a day, when I have neglected to do the things that would have brought me true satisfaction and joy and replaced them with whatever sounded good in the moment--fluffy books, idleness, a movie or two.  Those days feel empty to me at their end. It reminds me of these verses in the Book of Mormon:

Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
So, yes, those are my ramblings for the day. Let me just say that I have hope yet that I can be better at doing the things that I know are good for me. And things like taking care of our bodies, helping others, studying the life and teachings and gospel of Jesus Christ, developing a relationship with Heavenly Father--these are the things that fill me up and make me happy. But oh how I am "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love."-which are part of the text from the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Take a listen....

-Elin
Who is feeling like she needs a taste of Christmas and wishes the rain would magically turn to snow.

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