Lay aside [ insert vice here ]

At Sam's party on Saturday one of my friends was talking about her aunt, who happens to work with me in Young Women. Auntie is trying to "live a higher law" by giving up the Mountain Dew chaser that helps he control her migraines. I hope it works out for her. I'm glad I don't have a caffeine addiction to deal with, but I don't think it's a big deal for everyone who does.

Auntie's husband, a former bishop in our ward, is trying to live a higher law by shaving every day.

Maybe these people are so far ahead of us that those are the only areas they have left to improve. Ya think? Okay, so I don't get it. I just truly do not get how these things make a difference. But I hope they do, because I know these people and they deserve blessings for trying to do what is right.

I was left, though, with nagging certainty that I need to live a higher law in a lot of ways. I have a lot of habits that are far worse than Mountain Dew. And I need to be better, and here is why.

I am going to need a lot of help in the next couple of months, a lot of guidance. I am going to start getting calls about children who need a family, children who have been hurt and have problems. I am going to need to know whether to bring them home, and I'm not going to have two weeks to think about it. Probably not even two days. I am going to need fast access to real answers so that I can be confident about doing this scary kind of stuff. I'm going to need strength to say no, and strength to say yes. I don't want anything blocking that.

For me, I think this means giving up some TV shows I enjoy. I think it means reading scriptures instead of newspapers while I eat breakfast. I also think it means (a) cutting back my time on blogs and boards and (b) focusing what time I do spend online on constructive topics that will open me to revelation rather than closing me up.

To some people this will probably sound like the Mountain Dew and the shaving sounded to me. But maybe each person is the best judge of the means for his or her own improvement. And who am I to say giving up caffeine and scruffiness is not going to help some people? Or that giving up Gray's Anatomy and possibly even House (-SOB!-) is going to help anyone but me?

So Watch Out for Mama may get a little more churchy, for lack of a better word. It's not because you need it, all you wonderful people out there. It's because I do. You all keep on doin' the dew or whatever you do; it's cool by me. I'm just gonna start including more stuff like this, which popped into my mind Saturday night when I was shaving my legs (how is that for ironic?):

And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.

Doctrine and Covenants 25:10