Adjusting Our Priorities

We have all experienced losses that paralyze us. I remember that when I exchanged my house in order to give my daughter an apartment, I became very depressed because I had left behind a beautiful, spacious, private house in which I had lived for more than 20 years. This event upset me emotionally. It is a normal human reaction to loss. It is a grieving process that you establish within yourself. Little by little, I realized that I could live without my spacious and beautiful house, because I chose to reason through what had happened and find advantages in the change, discovering that I could be happy without that to which I had felt so attached.

Also, when I underwent a total thyroidectomy with lymph node dissection because of an incorrect biopsy diagnosis, I felt that life had been far too unfair to me, and depression made its triumphant appearance. These losses can cause us to reassess our priorities. I do not mean that we should live without a good house, or that living without the thyroid gland is a pleasure. What I wish to emphasize is that life did not end there. I simply learned from these experiences. And I adjusted my actions so that life’s setbacks would be less painful for me.

What is astonishing about all of us is that we do not realize that our order of priorities may be misguided or misdirected. Material things are necessary, but not indispensable, and we even learn that we can live with much less than we had. The Word of God is very clear in this regard: “Where your riches are, there your heart will be.”

Wealth is a broader concept, and it encompasses the spiritual realm. Without spiritual wealth, neither a good house nor excellent health is worth anything, because you will always be sick and dissatisfied with the very life that God gave you.

That is why I call upon you to reflect on how rich we are today: we have life, we have a biological family and a family in the Faith. We have a life plan in accordance with the Word of God. And, my brothers and sisters, nothing we set out to do will be impossible to achieve, because our will shall always go hand in hand with the Most High.

Brothers and sisters, we must decide what we want from life and, accordingly, choose our life plan without neglecting Today. And, even more importantly, we must choose how to be happy, regardless of what others may think.

There is something else I would like to share with you: When a Christian decides that he will establish close friendships only with another brother in the Faith, he is making a crucial decision in his life, one that may be criticized and even mocked. When a Christian decides to stop attending parties with a distinctly worldly character, he is defining himself, setting himself apart, going against the current. Of course, at first it will not be comfortable, and we will be criticized and mocked, but the reward—that peace we feel when we live out the commitment we have made to our Savior, that immense peace—is the greatest of all rewards. “Perhaps some of my friends will look down on it.” Of course! But it is our life, our commitment to what we have declared. It is about the narrow path we have chosen. It is about being consistent and not ambiguous in our Faith!

I try to share my experiences with my brothers and sisters because, if today you are facing a material loss or even a loss of a bodily nature (health can be lost), life readjusts. Brother, life does not end right there. We are privileged because we have the Word of God and many brothers and sisters who, directly and indirectly, will help us escape the belief of depression.

Do not cling to anything material in this world. Cling to the Word of God and foster relationships with those who speak our own language. These are two important aspects of a Christian’s success.