It is a beautiful day today! There is a lot of snow on the ground, and it makes me want to get a snowmobile and take the kids for rides on the snow-covered pastures across the road. We had one when we were kids and Nathan, Camellia and I had so much fun with it! We would pull each other around and try to go off jumps. We would stay out much of the evening after school doing this. I had the best childhood!
Life is going pretty well. I worked in Claresholm Hospital Emergency room on Saturday. I was the float nurse, and it was a really good shift. I got an IV in, gave IV meds, did an ECG, did assessments and felt like an asset. I came away from there feeling really good about working causal there even though I have never seen myself as an Emerg nurse. My first float shift a few weeks ago in Emerg was ridiculously crazy. People kept coming in and there was nowhere to put them. And I did not feel like an asset to the Nurse I worked with. At least there was no Trauma or serious illness to deal with.
And then yesterday came and after we got home from Church, I get a call from my sister who said Selman was sick. Selman had been visiting them for a few days with Nana and Papa. She said he had a fever, was pale and shaking, trying to vomit and was complaining of right lower quadrant pain. Of course, I immediately thought it was appendicitis as Caeleb had that when he was 8 and had the same symptoms. I told Nana and Papa I would meet them at Claresholm Emerg at about 2:45 pm and take him in. When I saw Selman, he was feeling warm and was saying he was stilll feeling yucky and so I carried him into Emerg and passed by many people I worked with the day before. Almost immediately after checking in, I could feel his fever break and he started perking up. But we were committed by then and I waited to see the doctor after talking to the same nurse that I worked with yesterday. We both agreed that we did not need to be there. It was a bit embarrassing, and I feel like I should have waited another 15 minutes before choosing to go into Emerg and I probably would have not gone in if I had waited. But I accept the consequence for that action, and it is hard to accept consequences of actions at times. As it turns out, Selman still has a fever today (the next day) and has some sniffles and an earache. It could be an ear infection, but we will just wait and see what happens for another day. I worked last night at the Mental Health center, and it was an easy peasy shift and I had plenty of time to get things done and talk with my co-worker. I am pretty spoiled in working there. The workload almost always feels manageable. I am never anxious to go to work. It is a great job! Just not always great at keeping up medical skills. Mom watched Selman and Lizzy while I slept from 8:00 am to 1230 pm today. I am grateful for all she does for our family! And now Selman is snuggled up to me on the couch while I write this. I am glad he is ok.
Back to when I mentioned accepting consequences of actions in the last paragraph. I have been thinking about that a lot. I feel like the purpose of life is simple. And you can relate to this whether you believe in a God or not. The purpose of life is accepting the consequences of your actions when you have control over them, choosing how you deal with your circumstances and the actions of others (even though you do not have control over them) and doing what you can to have good consequences as a result of good actions in order to make life better. It is as simple as that. I choose to believe in God. And I essentially believe that this is the purpose of life according to a loving God's design. He is not trying to trick us! He has not designed a plan where you have to believe a certain way to meet the cut off point for eternal happiness. And if you do not meet that cutoff point, you will be as miserable as one can possibly me for forever. That makes no sense! He simply lets us accept the consequences of our actions.
God allows us to choose who we become in this life and the next. Or at least that is how it appears to be in this life. If you choose to serve and love others, you gain the respect of others and you help the world become of better place. If you choose to spend more than you make, you choose to go into debt. If you choose to procrastinate, you do not get things does. If you choose to not have good dental hygiene, you choose to risk spending alot in dentist bills (we have spent alot on the kids teeth). If you choose to put harmful and maybe addictive substances into your body, you are not as healthy as you could be. If you choose to be mean, you choose to risk friendships. If you choose to repent and change for the better when you do wrong, you choose to become better. If you choose to learn and grow intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, etc, you choose to have more knowledge and understanding. If you choose to get help when you feel like you need it, you may get the help you need to feel and do better. If you choose to believe in an equally loving and just God (one that makes sense) and a Christ who paved the way for salvation and resurrection, you choose to have hope in the next life. Some people believe that if you do not choose to believe Christ is God, you do not choose hope in the next life but rather choose everlasting torture in Hell. But that is just non-sensicle That consequence does not match that choice. Without certain religious influences, no one would ever believe that people are so evil they deserve to be infinitely tortured for a finite life of sin. If they did believe that way, they would probably be deemed mentally unstable.
I do need to make clear, if you choose to believe or not believe in God, you might choose to live each day to its fullest for differing but equally good reasons. Those who do not believe in a next life, simply believe they must make the most of this life but do not have the hope and peace that comes in believing life continues after. And if you choose to try to be happy in whatever circumstances that are thrown your way or circumstances that you choose, even if it is a struggle, you will be happier than if you did not choose to try to be happy. I understand we cannot control every circumstance or outcome in our life, and sometimes people have to deal with difficult consequences even if they did not cause them or sometimes people do not have to deal with circumstances or consequences of some of their or other's actions (people get lucky or miracles are involved) but our choices can make our life more enjoyable or more miserable. So much is up to each of us individually. It is a choice.
Consequences can be hard to deal with. For example, it is not easy, but I am trying to accept the consequences, both good and bad of choosing to work two jobs at the moment. It is complicated trying to figure out why we have to deal with the consequences of other's action. It is also complicated understanding why many circumstances are out of our control or why we make the wrong decisions at times when we are trying to do what is right. My faith in Christ gives me peace and leads me to believe that his Atonement somehow makes those circumstances, consequences and outcomes balanced and right in the next life. Maybe that is where faith comes into play. And perhaps faith can make the future brighter. But the simple fact is, we deal with consequences for choices and circumstances in this life.
