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| Looking and feeling completely icky!! |
I first caught a cold/flu from Chase in the middle of March that lasted for almost two weeks. It was a long recovery because it was very hard for me to really slow down and rest during that time because, you know, life is pretty busy. I did start feeling better for about 4 or 5 days. Then, on Saturday morning of General Conference weekend, I woke up with terrible body aches, fatigue and a high fever. The symptoms were pretty severe and lasted for several days before I finally clued in and went in to see the doctor. At that time I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I have been trying to recover from that for two weeks. I managed pretty well during the week of the double birthday (Daddy's and Trey's) and four nights of piano competition stuff, but then suffered a relapse of the pneumonia and had to start a second round of antibiotics and a new prescription of cough medicine that completely wipes me out. And that brings me up to today. I have no voice and my entire core and rib cage ache from all of the coughing. But I am determined to finally get some real rest and get rid of this illness once and for all. For real!
Anyway, what is the point of documenting my complaints about this long illness? It isn't merely to excuse my blogging procrastination. From the moment I started getting sick in March, I felt like my body was trying to send me a message. The demands of my schedule and the number of my obligations over the past year have been heavy. And my opportunities for rest and renewal have been light. I could sense that since I hadn't been taking care of myself well enough that my body was about to insist that it was time to slow things down and reevaluate my priorities.
Granted, reevaluating is pretty hard to do when one is resting but doing so in terrible pain and discomfort, as I have been. It is also pretty challenging to keep up with the most basic demands of my job as a mom of four who also happens to homeschool. I carry a pretty heavy burden managing their education, running a household, serving in the church, and supporting a self-employed and overworked husband. Honestly, I don't know if I am any busier than anyone else. But I got the message loud and clear: I need to refocus my time and efforts so that I don't run myself into the ground.
And although I was terribly sick over conference weekend, I heard most of the messages and felt uplifted by the spirit. As usual, however, I was struck by a couple of things that seemed targeted to me and some of my current challenges. One of those things came during a talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson, who was talking about marriage and family and the role of parents in teaching their children the gospel. One little sentence in his talk, which was almost obscure in context of the overall topic, was loud and clear to me and has echoed in my mind ever since. He said, "Brethren and sisters, many things are good, and many things are important, but only a few things are essential."
Pow! Okay, self, there it is--your invitation to put aside things that interfere or crowd out the only things you really need to be doing: the essentials.
And so we come to the question--what are the essentials? I don't know if I'm getting it all right, but I think I've narrowed it down to a few. And if I'm doing these things faithfully, and some good things and some important things have to fall through the cracks, so be it. When all is said and done, the essentials are the things where I hope to show that I was able to shine.
My essentials:
Husband. Showing him that he is loved and appreciated. Praising his strengths and forgiving his weaknesses, as I hope he does for me. Listening to him. Helping him smile and relax and enjoy life. Studying and pondering and praying and dreaming and preparing and working with him.
Children. Creating an environment where they flourish, explore, learn, and feel the Spirit. Showing them they are loved and adored. Teaching them the value of hard work and self-discipline and developing their talents. Giving them opportunities to serve and show kindness. Helping them work through difficult things and see the purpose in them. And, most importantly, teaching them to read the scriptures, listen to the prophets, and recognize and follow the Spirit.
Scriptures.
Repentance. Changing and sacrificing to bring myself into alignment with God's will and to reach the stature of Jesus Christ in all things.
Forgiveness.
Prayer.
Studying the words of the prophets and following them.
The temple.
Service.
Family home evening, family scripture study, and family prayer.
Good food.
Regular exercise.
Sleep.
Love, love, love. Christlike love in all things.
And that's pretty much it. Everything else should be an appendage to those things and I am determined to live accordingly.
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| This little Buddy came with me to pick up my latest round of prescription meds. He sat on my lap and cuddled with me the whole time we were waiting for them to be filled. And he made me giggle in the car by making silly faces at me in the mirror. I can't even begin to express what a healing comfort it is to hug this little guy! All of my sweet children have been amazingly helpful and wonderful as I have worked on recovering from a long illness. I have been sick, but not unhappy, because I have them here, surrounding me with their spirits of love and strength. |
So, thank you, most awful pneumonia! You have reawakened in me the need to focus on the essentials and let go of the constant, breathless, ruthless chase of everything else that may have been on my list. Haha! I suppose that I will eventually get to those late blog posts as well. Fingers crossed!
Pneumonia is no fun! They warned Aaron last year that it would take a few months for him to feel back to normal. Sure does make you reevaluate what's important, though. I hope you get better soon!
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