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Hi, I posted in the introduction section earlier, maybe this will get me some more opinions although I enjoyed the others. Can I just take a “step back” for a while.. not feel obligated to church every sunday and be myself for a while? I almost feel I’m being rebellious and need to see if I just need a true break. If you hadn’t read my introduction, I’m struggling with WoW and garments.. I feel so overwhelmed and constricted, plus obligations that I feel come with church. I like your name. Keepswimmin. That’s the advise I would give and it sounds like your doing it. What ever direction you go just keepswimmin. I don’t wear a wedding ring. I am married. I don’t feel i need an outward cymbal to remind me I am married. Or for what ever reason a person wears one. Umm. dont know why I shared that. Dont know if its applicable to wearing garments.
🙂 Just keepswimmin!
Lol good analogy! Me and my husband didn’t wear them for a while after we married either (we married in a courthouse) though our reasoning was we couldn’t afford them but it didn’t bother us because we also felt rings don’t mean anything other than showing off your marriage. Rings (IMO) are mostly useful to keep strangers from hitting on me, but I found that it didn’t work in Vegas. Garments OTOH probably keep us from knocking boots with non-LDS lovers. Maybe. Sure you can take a break! People that train to compete in sports at the highest levels have rest days worked into their regimens. Rest actually allows the body to strengthen whereas continuous training can actually weaken an athlete. Our bodies need rest from strenuous activity, so does our spirit. That’s one thing that gets me about church culture, there’s often no rest. On my mission it was 365 days a year with no whiff of a vacation. Even Mother’s Day and Christmas were limited to a few hours to call home and then it was right back to the grind. Preparation days were also laborious, a half day of chores and a half day of normal missionary work. Stress builds when you can no longer see relief on the horizon. Even outside the framework of a mission members are often sustained to their next calling in the same meeting where they are released from their old one. No rest.
I know this contradicts what I just said but have you ever had a calling/responsibility for a long time, you were released, and you had a few Sundays where you could actually relax at church before the next assignment came along?
We’d do better by giving people a break from time to time to allow them to recharge their batteries for the next go-round. If it’s a break from callings or even church, it doesn’t matter. Rest is an integral part of progress in any endeavor.
Even God took a break after a long time at work. Some people think God still is taking a long break, mostly – perhaps with a few appearances on the lecture circuit occasionally to keep people from forgetting.
To quote the immortal words of Count Rugen (hope someone recognizes that reference):
Quote:If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.
Ray – Princess Bride. The line before it, “You know how I love to watch you work, but I have a wedding to plan, my wife to murder, and Gildor to frame for it. I’m swamped.”
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: and there actually is a good lesson in that line
:thumbup: True.Actually we’re missing part of the quote… the line that Rugen says just before the above-quoted: “ Get some rest. After all, if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.” I think I need some rest.
I had one the other day. My daughter plunks herself down next to me in my office and says “Daddy, I want you to help me be a millionaire”. I indicated that I had classes to grade, insurance to arrange, a band practice to prepare for, and now, my daughter wants to be a millionaire — I didn’t have time for all that today….
I needed a break
Having said all of that, it actually is easier for many people to stay and work on building one’s own faith (as hard as that is) than for those people to leave, especially if they want to leave open the possibility of returning to activity later – for lots of different reasons. If there is real and serious harm being done by staying that can’t be controlled or eliminated, that’s one thing; if it is anything else, my default response is to stay and work on coping mechanisms until you are comfortable being who you are in the group.
keepswimmin wrote:Hi, I posted in the introduction section earlier, maybe this will get me some more opinions although I enjoyed the others. Can I just take a “step back” for a while.. not feel obligated to church every sunday and be myself for a while? I almost feel I’m being rebellious and need to see if I just need a true break. If you hadn’t read my introduction, I’m struggling with WoW and garments.. I feel so overwhelmed and constricted, plus obligations that I feel come with church.
DW and I have found doing church on our own terms to be quite liberating. Being less invested frees us from the guilt. Since voluntarily turning in my TR (see my intro) I no longer feel compelled to wear garments, or attend church weekly. We still like to attend SM a couple times a month to take the sacrament, sing some old familiar hymns (when not sung like funeral dirges), and
perhapshear an inspirational message. Staying home and watching Music and the Spoken Word has become an uplifting and inspirational way to worship. (the music cannot be beat, the images from nature are awesome, and the messages are short, sweet, and to the point) Having an occasional night cap with my wife has also become a relaxing way to end our day. I encourage you to seriously consider taking a break to reflect upon which spiritual path is best for you. Best wishes… I think me and DH have made our decision.. we don’t feel God would make salvation so complicating and would want people to cconstantly feel unworthy no matter how hard they try perfecting themselves. I have prayed and have an overwhelming feeling of peace. God loves us and he knows we are fallible and will always fall short which is why he sent Jesus to atone for us. I feel free. Great news! THIS is what it’s ALL about. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: PS – Decided to stay from church today and rest
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