What is important?

I went to my annual OB exam this morning. It's getting to be more routine now that I only see him once a year (although the nurse did jokingly say "any news? any announcements? when I walked in). I probably enjoy this exam more than most women because, in my case, it's about 10% awkward exam and 90% counseling session. I'm not sure who was counseling whom today but the discussion revolved around depression in middle age.

The good doctor said he sees it sometimes in fellow doctors. They hit middle age and they decide to get a new spouse, a more expensive home, a new car. His thought is that they, as doctors, make plans for their lives and they imagine the accomplishments and money they make by mid-life will insure their happiness. We both agreed this is rarely the case.

It's funny because someone I know, at this very moment, could be one of those doctors (the new house and new spouse anyway). The drive for new and different "things" brings a temporary high but eventually that passes and you just have more debt and an older house and spouse.

You can keep trading in on newer models, I suppose, or you can realize that true joy doesn't come from things...it comes from relationships, the most important of which is a relationship with the Creator. Without God, we are just doing our thing...well or poorly...until we die. I don't know about you but that seems like a pretty scary thought. Nothing but the here-and-now. No accountability to anything just do what makes you happy at any given moment.

#2 is preparing for First Communion in a few months and he has started to journal in a really wonderful book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934185434/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The first few pages are a "read aloud" story about a little girl who is taken before the King so that he can prepare her for battle against the devil, the world and herself. #2 nodded along until the part about the "Triflers". These are minions of the devil, present in much of the girl's life, who make the wide, easy road seem so much more enticing than the narrow road that leads to the King's mountain top. They want everything now and they would rather not work at all if possible. I think it may have hit him a little too close to home.

Since we read the story, there are mentions of "triflers" and "trifling" on a regular basis around here. I like when the kids "get it" when it's such an important lesson. I hope they can carry some of these beliefs into their young adulthood and beyond. As for my good doctor, father of six; he said only his youngest son still bothers him about the fact that he has an old truck, "not a doctor's car". Guess there's always one ;0)

We are blessed.