Living modestly enough does not necessarily equate with having sufficient means to pay one's bills...
If I had one wish, right now it would be having a sufficient financial windfall that would allow me to pay off all my short term debt and allow us to actually live modestly without having to worry if there is going to be enough money to pay bills as well as buy groceries each paycheck...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Simple Life, it's kind of a relative term. My life seems complicated sometimes but would probably seem simple to someone else while complicated to another person. If we live the gospel, our chances of having life complicated are greatly reduced. By following the Word of Wisdom we will never run the risk of getting a DUI or into some sort of other trouble involving alcohol. By not gambling, we cannot get an addiction to gambling. By living the law of chastity we are not left with the complications of disease or children out of wedlock.
To illustrate the benefits of chastity I offer the following. Today I played a little joke on one of my employees. I doctored a child support wage withholding order naming him as the daddy of some ladies child with whom he had a past relationship. Then I gave it to him. He was in full panic mode for about 10 minutes and was ready to go over and confront her about "his" child. Of course this was retribution for a joke he played on me a few weeks ago. My brother commented afterwards that it is nice knowing that by living the law of chastity there is no possible chance of something like that happening to us and if it did we would at least know for sure that the child was not ours. I have seen people have to go through all the problems of a paternity test and court fights in situations like this.
I've heard people comment that our religion has so many rules and requirements that they couldn't ever live like us. But these same rules allow us to live free of the complications, stress, heartache, fear, loathing, etc that so many in the world must live under. This is the true blessing of living under the gospel plan. Those who live in the world often still have the burdens of providing for a family, balancing work and family obligations, paying bills, etc but they also have all these other complications too. The Lord blesses his children will less complications for following His commandments.
salesortonscom wrote:I've heard people comment that our religion has so many rules and requirements that they couldn't ever live like us. But these same rules allow us to live free of the complications, stress, heartache, fear, loathing, etc that so many in the world must live under. This is the true blessing of living under the gospel plan. Those who live in the world often still have the burdens of providing for a family, balancing work and family obligations, paying bills, etc but they also have all these other complications too. The Lord blesses his children will less complications for following His commandments.
Amen, bro, amen! We each get our own set of trials and hardships, but if we live the gospel, even to just some extent, a lot of the "random events" that don't have to be in effect get mitigated away!
And then comes the day we die and won't have to worry about paying bills again, and if we've lived righteously enough, we'll receive confirmation the other debts we've incurred have been paid and forgiven us!
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I have no debts but with 7 kids we spend a bunch of money. One in college, soon off on a mission.
I'd love to be able to retire to a farm and just grow fruit and vegitables, go to the Temple once a week, do my hometeaching.
I'm tired of work but my youngest is only 4.
I'll be working at least another 16 years.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
I'm in there with you, Mahonri. Our oldest is 16. Our youngest in 11 months. So I have a way to go as well.
Most of the administrivia that I hate, like having to take time off work to renew my driver's license, or like spending a few Saturdays in February doing my taxes, is caused by too much government interference in my life. I can't do a whole lot to reduce or eliminate that beyond voting for Ron Paul or Libertarian candidates
There are a lot of steps Sister Roper and I have taken over the past few years to simplify our lives--things we can directly control like reducing the amount of stuff we have in storage. If we haven't used something in the past year and don't anticipate using it during the coming year, then it goes to another family in the ward or to Goodwill. We buy most of our clothing from thrift stores. That way, when we haven't worn something for a while, it's easy to let it go rather than keeping it in the closet--it's worth maybe three dollars instead of thirty. We bought a home close to church, work, school, shopping, etc. so we only need one vehicle (a twelve-year-old minivan that's paid for)--we can walk or bicycle to just about everthing we need. Our home is a modest size, so it's fairly easy to keep clean and we don't have a huge mortgage or high utility bills.
For the most part, I'm satisfied with level of simplicity in our life. I can deal with the minor annoyances listed above.
The one thing that is a constant complicating factor and can be at times supremely frustrating is this whole blended family thing. Our oldest two boys spend time with their mom, who has different values, and that at times is tough to deal with. And it means I have to maintain a relationship with and communicate with someone I'd really rather not. But that will be over in a few years, and our lives will hopefully be even simpler.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
Mahonri, you should be glad you're not my Bishop. He drives two hours one way to do Dentist work in Denver. Plus, they homeschool their seven kids. Granted, not all seven are at home anymore.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
My mom's house always had tons of stuff...it's not that it's dirty, just cluttered. Cluttered with nice stuff. My plan is to live in a simpler way, and I've been trying to do that even as I'm in college. I luckily don't have the problem of having more money than I know what to do with. I buy text books, food, pay bills and rent, and other living needs. Now, if only every second of my life wasn't to be taken over by homework, but I think going into engineering automatically complicates life. However, staying on top of things as opposed to allowing myself to fall behind makes it feel less complicated. That's been my goal for this year. So far, so good, but my first round of tests starts next week, so life is already becoming more complicated because I have more studying along with my regular load of homework.
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Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
— Oscar Wilde
OK... guess I should count my blessings... I only travel 2.5 miles to work and most times I come home for lunch.
Still, the next sixteen years looms like a mountain before me.... but I suppose I should not lament and just be grateful for them. Was IM'ing w/ my son at college this evening thinking this will only last for another 3 months and then he'll be in the MTC.
He said he had a dream he was called to Argentina.
I hope he goes Spanish... preferably Ecuador (where I served) but I'd be happy with him almost anywhere south of the border.
We should know by next week. I sent his papers in a week ago.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Wouldn't that be strange for both the son and the father, to have the father be a bishop or stake president and interview them for their mission? While on the one hand it would be wonderful for them both if the son can honestly report that they are worthy and ready to serve a mission, can you imagine the grief if you learn they are not? Can you imagine the added hesitation the son would have to "fess up" to not only their priesthood leader but their father?
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
My Dad was my Bishop when I was old enough to be baptized. He interviewed me in the Bishop's office, and then on the appointed day, baptized me and confirmed me a member of the Church and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost upon me.
The last mortal calling my Dad had was that of Stake Clerk (and he had been a Bishop, High Councilor, member of Stake Presidency, and multi-region welfare agent). I was given the assignment to be a stake auditor under him, and that was neat. But, at the same time, living as an adult with my wife and kids in the same ward I grew up in AND being in the same ward as my parents had drawbacks as well. I often felt I was in my father's shadow and riding his good reputation (which is not all bad, but you know what I mean). And, it is hard for both a father / son to differentiate between an ecclesiastical reporting structure and the familial / patriarchal reporting structure at times. The former can really impede the development of the other at times, I think.
Oh, but that's not what we're talking about... ahem... uh... right... sorry, suffered a PBSS moment there (Post Bishop's Son Syndrome).
Simple Life... hmmm... for me, it would be not having to work for a living but working doing something I enjoy without having to worry about the money part of it. I imagine that if I were in better shape physically, I would like to be spending time at a cabin in the woods doing outdoorsy type things... and kids, well, they all would be the type that could be given back to their parents when you're tired of them... and a massive ornamental flower garden... yes, perhaps even something along the lines of Thomas Kinkaid painting... and I wouldn't be "envious" of roper or some of the rest of you with the appearance of your relatively simple lives.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
