I am going through a period of changes. It seems like everything is changing in my life all at once. I am going back to school, leaving a position that I held for two years, initiating a divorce and learning new life lessons all along the way.
Recently I came in contact with an old nemesis...temptation.
I met temptation at a young age. At first I didn't know the consequences of dealing with temptation. One early memory was when I was about seven years old. My mother left seven dollars for my siblings and me and told us to order a pizza. I was hungry, I mean really hungry and so I wanted pizza like yesterday.
When the pizza came, it was steaming hot and my sister told me to wait for my pizza to cool off because the cheese was piping hot. I sat, staring at the pizza and watching the heat rise from the melted mozzarella cheese... hmmmmmm...mozzarella...
pizza...food...and the next thing I knew, I picked up the floppy slice and shoveled it carelessly into my mouth. Almost immediately, my cheeks were burning from the hot mozzarella cheese and I had to spit out the pizza I was craving just moments before. The result? Canker sores. I had three small sores on the insides of my cheeks from the burn of the cheese. Once the pizza had cooled, I could hardly enjoy it because my cheeks were sensitive to the salty tomato sauce on the pizza (the whole salt on an open wound is not a joke, it hurts!). My older brother looked at me and simply shook his head in response to my foolishness. My sister scolded me saying: "I told you to wait". Me? I just sat there nibbling at my slice of pizza, one miserable attempt at a time.
Lesson: I lost the opportunity to enjoy what I wanted just because I couldn't wait to have it at the time that I was meant to have it.
So, fast forward to adulthood...
Seems like good old Temptation is knocking on my door again. Its saying " Come on, tell me that this doesn't look good. Tell you me you don't want it. I KNOW you want it." The part of me that wants instant gratification and the easy road is feeling somewhat persuaded, but the other part of me, the part that remembers the burn I got as a result of my haste years back knows better. Still, even as I ignore the knocks on my door, and move as far away from it as possible... temptation now throws pebbles at my window. It never relents. I suppose that temptation will never go away, one just has to be strong enough to manage (or ignore) it.
My advice to you:
Its easy to enjoy the thrill of the ride, but its harder to determine the destination. Think and think hard, before you act.
Recently I came in contact with an old nemesis...temptation.
I met temptation at a young age. At first I didn't know the consequences of dealing with temptation. One early memory was when I was about seven years old. My mother left seven dollars for my siblings and me and told us to order a pizza. I was hungry, I mean really hungry and so I wanted pizza like yesterday.
When the pizza came, it was steaming hot and my sister told me to wait for my pizza to cool off because the cheese was piping hot. I sat, staring at the pizza and watching the heat rise from the melted mozzarella cheese... hmmmmmm...mozzarella...
pizza...food...and the next thing I knew, I picked up the floppy slice and shoveled it carelessly into my mouth. Almost immediately, my cheeks were burning from the hot mozzarella cheese and I had to spit out the pizza I was craving just moments before. The result? Canker sores. I had three small sores on the insides of my cheeks from the burn of the cheese. Once the pizza had cooled, I could hardly enjoy it because my cheeks were sensitive to the salty tomato sauce on the pizza (the whole salt on an open wound is not a joke, it hurts!). My older brother looked at me and simply shook his head in response to my foolishness. My sister scolded me saying: "I told you to wait". Me? I just sat there nibbling at my slice of pizza, one miserable attempt at a time.
Lesson: I lost the opportunity to enjoy what I wanted just because I couldn't wait to have it at the time that I was meant to have it.
So, fast forward to adulthood...
Seems like good old Temptation is knocking on my door again. Its saying " Come on, tell me that this doesn't look good. Tell you me you don't want it. I KNOW you want it." The part of me that wants instant gratification and the easy road is feeling somewhat persuaded, but the other part of me, the part that remembers the burn I got as a result of my haste years back knows better. Still, even as I ignore the knocks on my door, and move as far away from it as possible... temptation now throws pebbles at my window. It never relents. I suppose that temptation will never go away, one just has to be strong enough to manage (or ignore) it.
My advice to you:
Its easy to enjoy the thrill of the ride, but its harder to determine the destination. Think and think hard, before you act.
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