Determination vs. Desperation

I just got off of the phone with my mother-in-law. She and I get a long very well. When we hang out it is like having another sister. Anyhow, over Christmas break she gets word from her doctor that the suspicious spot on her skin she had biopsied was melanoma. Luckily, it was in early stages and they got it all, yet as an extra precaution they set up an appointment to remove the surrounding tissue. In a couple more weeks she will go in to have her stitches from that surgery removed and will hear what ever news they hear back from the lab on the surrounding tissue.
Now my MIL is very grateful for the inspiration she received to go to the doctor and at the same time frightened as she hears more people's stories of loved ones lost. She has seen this as a wake up call not a death sentence from her loving Father in Heaven, to remind her to as she said "get my poop in a group." (that expression made me laugh had never heard it before.) I love that she realizes that God is lovingly leading her back to the things she knows she should be doing. I am very grateful that the diagnosis for my Mother-in-law has been very positive and reassuring.

Now as I ponder on her situation it make me wonder why some people react positively to their trials and others so negatively. My question for myself and for you is if you found out you were going to die in a much shorter time frame than you originally planned would you said screw trying to be perfect and eat drink and be merry or would you improve yourself as much as you can? As I type that question I think of the move Stepmom (I always bawl during that one). She spends her time taking care of the people around her. I think when we think we are dying or know we are dying our true selves emerge. So who are we, who do I want to be?

I read a quote yesterday and when I read it I knew I would share it with you. It is a quote I heard at Brigham Young University in LDS Marriage and the Scriptures, a class I was taking with my then boyfriend now husband. Dr. Brent Barlow said " What you are is more important than what you were and what you can be is more important than what you are." I hope that all of you will read this statement and carefully apply it to all areas of your personal development. I also hope that we all will be person that brightens the world around us even when trials would try to stop us.