DOs and DON'Ts #laryngectmee, #laryngectomy


If you have negative feelings about the DOs and the DO NOTs from your upbringing, I ask that you reconsider. The 10 commandments are important but as Jesus said in Mark 12:30-31, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."

Basically, if you do those 2, you will be fulfilling them all. It's much easier to remember the 2.
We are to love God and love others. There's an acronym you may have seen before

 JOY "Jesus, Others, You" 


There are some "DOs" and "DONTs" in Philippians 4 that I think reinforce this idea of JOY being relevant in all we do. 

4-Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 
5-Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 
6-Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 
7-And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 
8-Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
9-Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. 

Our pastor had some thoughts about this on Sunday. A couple of them are "Look up -God is with me now" and "Look around -help each other; we need each other."

After surgery, laryngectomees are handed lots of rules. It was hard to keep up with all the extra personal care I needed. Practical stuff. But I wasn't given faith stuff or relationship stuff. I think you only get that through experience and working through things. Frankly, I struggled with JOY at first. A few people were unkind to me. I felt devalued. It took a while for my husband to understand me. Not his fault but it was frustrating and I became impatient. I think many laryngectomees experience the same types of frustrations. The Lord has been working with me on this.  

One last scripture that I have to bring to the front of my mind sometimes. Philippians 2:3 says "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves." Another "DO" to remember, but with God's strength these DOs will eventually become easier and bring lots of peace; and really, remembering the DOs is easier than remembering the DO NOTs.

Blessings,
Mary

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