One day, I was talking with my brother on the phone. The conversation took a turn and I found myself talking about all the hard things that was happening with parenting my big need kiddos. My brother then said something that made me stop short. He said, “Well Kista, you don’t choose easy.”
At first, I was a little hurt, I felt as if I had been dismissed in my frustrations and he didn’t want to hear about it anymore. Then I realized that he was right, I don’t choose easy. I decided a long time ago, that choosing easy wasn’t always going to bring me lasting happiness. In fact, sometimes choosing easy would bring more grief. In choosing the longer road of difficulty, I would find my way to the road of happiness and joy.
Sometimes when we “choose easy” we are actually choosing immediate gratification. Choosing not to curb our physical appetites can bring hardships to us that we might not have thought about when making the decision to indulge. Learning to curb these appetites is a very difficult skill to learn. I have spent a lot of time in reflection on this matter. Our human physical needs and urges of desire are very overwhelming.
I have practiced very diligently to overcome these urges in my life. Food urges were very difficult for me to overcome. I lived for junk food as a youth and teenager. After becoming an adult, newly wed poverty helped keep the junk food out of the house, but I still had to make the choice not to spend the little money we had on junk food.
After I hit twenty-three and my metabolism slowed down, I had to choose to eat better for different reasons. It was more of a forced choice. Then again, after having my son, I really had to make great changes in my food habits. Now, I am in my forties and my body craves healthier and more natural foods. If I have anything processed, my body is not happy with me. I have come to enjoy eating healthier and I can tell that my body is happier when I make that harder choice to put grains, fruit, and vegetables on my plate instead of a side of chips.
Oh, how I loved chips! But really, I didn’t. My body hated chips. Chips caused inflammation in my body. I have not eaten chips in a really long time. My body is so much happier. I don’t even crave them anymore. But it was hard to get to this point. It is hard to make changes in habits. But I want to tell you a secret: It has made me so much happier!
Happiness doesn’t come from a chip. That is why one chip isn’t enough and we find ourselves having eaten half a bag, not much happier and then trying to make ourselves stop before we get sick and realize that we already feel sick and still cannot stop. At least, that is how I would find myself.
Change is so hard. But, choosing hard is so rewarding. I want to be clear, choosing hard sometimes means choosing to stand apart from the group. I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints my whole life. I have always stood apart from others. I have always been different even at church. I used to hate it. I just wanted to feel normal. Whatever that means. Every time I tried to “fit in” I always felt out of place. Now I understand better. I was never meant to “fit in”. I was meant to stand apart.
Standing apart doesn’t always feel comfortable. And very often, it can feel lonely. That is why I am not doing it alone. I stand with my Savior. He is my constant companion as I choose to do this hard thing of standing apart from the world.
I didn’t always choose this. I used to be very worldly. Over the last year, I have made the decision to push the world aside and come closer to Jesus Christ. That took a lot of effort, but it wasn’t as hard as you think. How did I do it?
I kept my focus on Him. I keep Him in my thoughts. I am talking of Christ often throughout my day. I think of Him as my Savior, but also as my loving brother. We have a relationship. There is a song titled If the Savior Stood Beside Me. These are some of the lyrics:
If the Savior stood beside me,
Would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments
And try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example?
Would I live more righteously if I
Could see the Savior standing nigh,
Watching over me?
If the Savior stood beside me,
Would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if
He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel?
Would I speak more reverently if I
Could see the Savior standing nigh,
Watching over me?
There are several previous posts I have written about doing hard things. I encourage you to read them. I was a little confused at the prompting to write this post and it has taken me several days to do it because I have already blogged about this. But maybe, just maybe, God meant for you to read it today to help you get an answer you have been looking for. I don’t know. Here are some previous posts that might help:
You Can’t Pour from an Empty Glass
If anything, remember that choosing hard always brings us closer to Jesus Christ. Why? Because choosing hard helps us to recognize that we cannot do it all on our own. In humility, we recognize that we can accomplish nothing without the loving assistance of our Heavnely Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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