Monday, May 19, 2014

hard choices

I remember thinking soon after I got married that I wouldn't really have any more hard choices to make. I had already made the choice to stay virtuous, get married in the temple, get my degree, follow the word of wisdom, etc. It wouldn't be a hard choice where we would move to, if we should have kids, or pay our tithing or anything. Little things weren't temptations. Recently I was tempted and it caused me to seriously think about what to do. Here's the situation. We own a business that is closed on Sunday. That was a easy decision to make before we were open because we weren't making any money. Now that we're making money, the temptation to stay open on Sunday was something I was reconsidering. Most of our customer complaints are that we are closed on Sundays. I could argue  that there are other mormon run businesses open on Sundays. I could argue that Jeff and I personally wouldn't work on Sunday or force any employees to work on Sunday that didn't want to, thus keeping the Sabbath day holy. I could also argue that people have to make their own choices. Am I responsible for someone who decides they'll break the Sabbath and go out for a treat on Sunday? No. I  don't think so. I was feeling guilty about what others would think of me: family, friends, church people, and God. It was a hard choice. Jeff and I estimated that we could pocket an extra $75K a year just being open on Sunday. I don't know about you, but that is a temptation for me. It's not like we would be buying fancy cars or a bigger home with that money. We are paying off our loan with what we make as we continue to live off Jeff's Pfizer income. So we fasted and prayed about it. I didn't get any vision or verbal answer. I don't think I would've felt guilty about staying open on Sunday either.  I wouldn't judge anyone who decided to keep their doors open on Sunday, but we decided to keep our doors closed on Sundays. The next day, on a Monday morning, I feel I received an answer. While I was at the store folding some towels, I got an idea. I call it a compromise from God. The idea I had is that we open earlier and close later.  We will be open 9 hours longer throughout the week to make up for the closed hours on Sunday. We won't keep these hours during the winter, but for our busy season. Granted we still won't make as much money as we would on Sunday, but I feel really good about it and know we will be blessed for doing what we think is best for us. I'm thankful for hard decisions. I'm thankful that it brings me to my knees in prayer and communication with my Heavenly Father. I'm thankful that the answers we get our not what we expect. I didn't consider to stay open earlier and later until after I prayed and fasted. I'm thankful for Heavenly's Father's logic, love for us, and that I can rely on Him for everything.

1 comment:

Kirsten said...

I think I'd be tempted by that too!! I also think that you will be blessed in others ways for choosing the path you have.