You Get What You Pay for

You Get What You Pay for ….

“You get what you pay for” is a very common-sense reminder for people living in a seemingly senseless culture.  I always am amazed by people who do not function in relationship to logic and “the bigger picture” mentality – they seem surprised when they get bad results after years of bad decision making.  Perhaps it is the wise person that, knowing this, and yet also knowing the nature of stubborn humanity, just sits back and lets things play out … rather than offending someone by unsolicited advice.

Example #1.  Years ago I was visiting the home of my then-boyfriend’s parents.  His parents were fabulous people hosting a family BBQ for the relatives.  One of the female cousins brought her seven year old daughter, who was behaving absolutely obnoxiously.  The mother of the child was not managing the behavior, she was coddling it.  I believe I bit my lip to avoid comment.  I really do enjoy children – playing and interacting and talking with them – but when they’ve got the Brat Factor going on, I’d rather have a bistro table on the moon, (for them!) thank you.  Apparently I must have inadvertently made a wincing face throughout observing the business.  The young mother turned to me and said in a very fresh manner, “Oh, what, Chris do you think I should use tough-love?”  I fought back a thousand sarcastic responses and just said this:  “You may think this behavior is cute now, but when she is 15 years old and you are getting the 15 year old version of it, you will know why.”  End of discussion.

Example #2.  The resident Canadian in my office was telling me she did an experiment last week by saying, “Happy Holidays” to people working in stores and check-out lines that week before Christmas.  She complained that people were often surprised that she said it and didn’t seem to grasp how to respond.  It seemed from her description that particularly the younger generation was inept.  I asked her to consider this:  we have made it a general mission to kick God out of our North American culture (or at the very least, lock him up in churches where He allegedly belongs – and can arguably have only a fraction of an impact on our moral compass).  Why, when we have made Him and His ways a pariah, do we expect that celebrating a holiday that has its ONLY roots in religion, will make sense to anyone?  To say it another way, for the last thirty years I have heard laity and clergy alike moan and complain that Christmas has become so commercialized and materialistic.  Well, duh, if you take the religious component OUT of a religious holiday, what the heck do you think you are left with????  You can’t have it both ways and retain the spirit of the thing it once was.

Example #3.  I just cooperated with Madeline Grace Pearl in the raising of six beautiful cocker spaniel puppies.  Neither she nor I have had enough quality sleep in the past eight weeks.  We have dealt with high winds blowing over the pallets that extended the dog fencing, me in my pajamas and parka hammering fence posts in at 10:30 at night, Madeline slipping out of the fencing and taking off across the street for no good reason, and me cooking special menu for the two adult dogs for at least five weeks straight.  When I say “special menu,” this is what I mean:  breakfast is scrambled eggs or French toast; afternoon snack is a can of nutrient dense dog food; late meal is home-cooked boiled chicken and its luscious broth.  And that is what the dogs ate.  Meanwhile, I lost seven pounds on my diet (use your imagination) and running up and down the basement stairs.  So the other day Madeline was outside going crazy at the neighbor’s goat.  And I had one nerve left, which she happened to be aggravating.  I had my foot between a concrete block and a retaining wall, I was yelling at her (which isn’t my custom), she was ignoring me (which is definitely her custom) and I turned and just fell.  BLAM.  On my shoulder, with my ankle twisted, and my body just “done” from the aggravation.  I got up after saying a very unfamiliar word and took inventory to find that I was not in fact injured – other than the general rattling of bones that you get at mid life when these whacky things happen.  I am now requesting that when I pass away, you pack a bag of Snickers in with me so I can pay-off the guardian angels that keep me going.  My point again, I wasn’t on my game and everything got the better of me.  I got what I paid for.

You know, there is a term in the dietary world called “mindful eating.”  The theory behind it is that you don’t just shove any old food-thing in your mouth, at any time, and expect it to not impact your health.  I think that in 2017 what I would like to do is practice “mindful living” to a higher degree.  I would like to be a bit more insightful before I make a verbal response, or do an action.  I would like to ask the question, “will I like where this takes me?” before I make a decision, thus considering long-range consequences.  I kind of do that already, but I could be a bit more focused. 

This morning as I sat in church, I had a moment where I was really praying for emotional healing and a better sense of personal wholeness.  Frankly, if you are emotionally whole, it is easier to feel well just kind of all-over.  If you’re not; it doesn’t work so great.  I considered that there is some forgiving I need to do.  I also considered that the particular moment of quiet I was experiencing was incredibly and deeply therapeutic for me.  And maybe I need to take a bigger slice of that on my life’s plate.  Maybe praying-on-the-fly is no longer good enough for what I need to achieve to survive and actually thrive. 

What is it you need to do for yourself?  Join me, won’t you?  Make it a great New Year.

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