The Not-Insignificant Commandment & November’s Plan

Whenever I’m telling a story about someone and my kids demand to know who the story is about, I tell them that it’s about people that I knew long ago and far away…and so tonight I start with a story from long ago and far away, and no, you have no clue who I’m talking about.

Long ago and far away I knew a young family.  Both parents had good jobs and they had many of the comforts of life.  When they bought a house they chose to buy in the best area that they could possibly afford, sure that this would mean their children would eventually enjoy better schools and that their house would appreciate in value.  Unfortunately this also meant that they were constantly surrounded by people who had even more of life’s comforts than they did; newer cars, nicer clothes, better jobs, more luxurious vacations.  Seeing all of these luxuries all around her had the effect of making my friend unable to see the luxuries she enjoyed in her own life.  All she talked about was her dissatisfaction with what she had.

Any thinking I had ever done about the ten commandments up to that point in my life had probably gone like this:

No other Gods, no graven images…ok, that makes sense.  Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain…I can see that He might not like that, keep the sabbath holy, ok.  Honor parents, probably a good idea.  Don’t kill, commit adultery, steal, lie.  Well of course!  Don’t covet—not animals, not people or relationships, not servants, not anything.  Huh?  Why on earth not?  What is the big deal with coveting that it’s listed with these other really important things???

For the first time in my life I could see a real reason that coveting might be in the “big ten.”  When my friend was busy coveting her neighbor’s ox and her visiting teacher’s maidservent, it completely changed her heart.  It changed the way she felt about her neighbor and her visiting teacher, it changed the way she felt about her husband and what he provided, and it changed the way she felt about God.  (And what He provided.)

 

Despite this understanding so many years ago, I continue to be surprised at the (negative) power of coveting.  It truly does change our hearts and makes it impossible to fully obey yet another commandment,the one to be grateful. 

“Ye must give thanks unto God in the Spirit for whatsoever blessing ye are blessed with…” (D&C 46:32).

And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. (D&C 59:21)

Cindy Lynn wrote a really excellent blog post about this a couple of months ago while she was in the hospital. 

 

I’ve been thinking about this idea since then.  How this feels like the most insignificant of commandments, how it is the one that we can break multiple times every day, and how it has the potential to make the biggest difference in how we feel about our lives. 

I’ve been getting a refresher course on this since Russ’s big news last week.  I can focus on the fact that he got a decent severance package, and feel happy.  Or I can focus on the fact that he got laid off at all and feel angry and tense.  I can be grateful that we got to keep & sell the stock options and feel such relief.  Or I can focus on the stock options that would have been ours next summer and just feel bitter and frustrated.  Over and over again I’m seeing that what I choose to focus on, and whether or not  I let myself break this “insignificant” commandment, makes all the difference in the world about whether or not I feel peace and joy from moment to moment.

 

I’ve never killed anyone, though I might have come close a time or two when the triplets were little.  I try not to lie, and I don’t remember ever stealing anything.  I try really hard to keep the other commandments too.  And it’s time for me to try even harder not to break the 10th commandment.  So in November, in addition to the other things that are going on in my life, I’m going to blog about things I love.  Big things and little things.   Things that make me really happy that I sometimes forget to focus on enough.  Things that will help me be constantly grateful to God…