Pain Avoidance vs Pain Priority
There is a certain zone for athletes called the sweet spot, that when achieved is almost impossible to describe. Any athlete who has ever hit the sweet spot craves its return. The entry price is however, very high.
The hours of training required to achieve the sweet spot means that pain must be a priority. Pain is a constant in life. We will suffer some degree of pain regardless of efforts to the contrary. Our choice is the kind of pain we wish to endure.
Let me explain. Ralph is a 35-year old executive who has a propensity to overeat and gain weight. When he lets himself go, he becomes lethargic, sleeps irregularly, is always tired, is less productive, and he gets down on himself.
Each morning the routine is brutal, he drags himself out of bed dead tired. Two cups of coffee later he can finally open his eyes to see his tie doesn’t match his shirt. Last night was a great time, but going to bed at 2 AM after what he consumed is going to make work a living nightmare tomorrow.
As each week passes by, Ralph sinks deeper into the slow drone of pain associated with being out of shape, eating the wrong kind of foods, lack of sleep, and knowing he knows better.
What’s going on in Ralph’s mind is pain avoidance. He is choosing coffee, fatty foods, late night partying, and mild depression over the pain of following a system of getting and staying in shape.
Both lifestyles are choices. Ralph would rather suffer the natural consequences of laziness versus the pain of exercising, eating right, and having more energy during the day. To avoid the current pain means he’ll have to endure the pain of protecting his boundaries from others by saying no to harmful activities.
Athletes who choose pain priority crave the feeling of breaking through the pain barrier and experiencing the incredible endorphin high that is associated with self-control.
Much of what we do is pain avoidance versus pain priority. The financial situation in American is pain avoidance. We make decisions based upon the masses and a financial framework that is broken, stocks, mutual funds, and the company 401(k). We put our emphasis on investing because it’s easier than master spending and saving, even though investing rarely out produces that latter.
How we treat our spouses and raise our children is a direct result of being blue-printed in our early years and then accepting we are like our parents (pain avoidance) rather than learning a better way (pain priority).
How does missionary work fit into our pain discussion?
We only have 18-24 months to be full-time emissaries in the Lord’s army. It’s kind of like a tithe of our short life up to this point.
We have been given the rules of engagement in our callings and we can choose what kind of pain we wish to have.
The Pain of Avoidance:
- Part time prayer. We go through the motions and say all the traditional words, but we never grow from monologue to dialogue.
- Part time study. Only our bodies are present. We don’t learn how to ask questions and go beyond the words on the page. We are satisfied with our ignorance.
- Part time participation in the work. We spend as much effort avoiding the work as our companion does trying to do the work.
- Cafeteria-style obedience. We pick and choose which rules (commandments) to fully obey with exactness. Not every rule applies.
- This is thepathway to mediocrity. We are complacent with the traditions of our fathers.
- This approach is under the false assumption that pain is avoided.The pain is only delayed.
The Pain of Priority:
- Full time prayer. We learn how to dialogue with our Father. We learn to ask good questions, to make decisions, and to act upon inspiration. We’re not concerned with looking good or getting agreement of the Lord, we’re only concerned with getting understanding of His will and making His will our will.
- Full time study. We ask questions of the scriptures. We go deeper than the words on the page. We eliminate Sunday School questions and answers. We learn the culture, the audience, the historical setting, and the understanding of prophets and scholars who the Lord has blessed to specialize in specific topics for the defense of the church.
- Full time participation in the work. All your energy is focused on the Lord’s work. Your comfort zone is designed to be widened and enhanced on your mission so you can become something greater after your mission. This is your Zion’s Camp. You are being tested as a missionary to determine how you will serve when you have other responsibilities like a spouse, children, a job, bills to pay, etc. As a missionary you only have one focus.
- Universal obedience.
- The pain is immediate and specific. It is the pain of boundaries. It is the pain of self-control at the expense of how others think. It is the pain of being peculiar. It is the pain of shunning the natural man. It is the pain of exaltation.
Being mortal means we will experience pain, we have no choice. Our future happiness will be dictated by which pain we choose: avoidance or priority.
