dilemma

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I’m Having A Dilemma With My Medications

I’m having a little dilemma right now over when to take my pills. A week ago I had no issues of when to take my pills. Now, I’m in a quandary.

dilemma with medications

For most of my life I never took a pill for anything. The number of times I took an aspirin or Tylenol was probably in the single digits.  

But at age 56 I had a heart attack and that changed everything. I started taking 7 pills a day and then went down to 5 pills after three months. One year later I was down to 4 pills a day. 

I was making great progress. A few years later I even managed to cut one pill in half, so technically I’m only taking 3 and half pills a day now. 

But since I started, I have always taken them in the morning with breakfast. For almost eight years that’s been my pattern.  

It’s hard to remember back that far, but I think I just decided to take them all together, no matter what the instructions were. 

For me I knew that I could remember to take my pills once a day. But if I had to take some at one time and some at another, I figured I would forget sometimes.

As a result, over the eight years, I’ve only missed taking my pills maybe four times … maybe.

I’ve been very consistent. I put them in my hand, throw them into my mouth, and down a full glass of water. That’s it – don’t have to worry about them for the rest of the day. 

But this past week my sister had a heart attack and I was in the hospital room when they were going over her medications. She was given all the same medications that I’m taking … but they told her to take one of them in the evening. 

I don’t do that! 

Then my brother-in-law piped up that his pharmacist told him to take this medication in the evening as well. 

Almost eight years into taking a medication and now I’m concerned that I am taking it at the wrong time. I’m thinking I now need to figure out a way to remember to take this one lonely pill in the evening, that maybe it would be better for me to do that.

I’m feeling that I’m at risk right now taking the pill in the morning like I do.

So I’ve decided to start taking this pill in the evening. This morning I put it aside and took my other pills.

But now I’m concerned that I might have side effects taking this pill at a different time because way back I had a muscle problem with it (you can read about that here). Since then it’s been good but I don’t want to upset the apple cart and experience muscle pain again. 

So I’m having a dilemma as to whether I should just take the pill now or wait until evening. 

… Life was a little simpler a week ago. 

Here’s the thing: When you are considering giving your life to Christ, or if God is calling you to go deeper with Him, it will require changes. One thing you will have to consider is whether these changes will be easy to keep. Will they cause a disruption in your life? Will you like them in the long run? When it comes to taking pills, I can’t tell you for sure, but when it comes to God, you can be sure that God will only ask you to make changes that will be in your best interest. And God doesn’t make mistakes – guaranteed!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What changes should you be considering right now? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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Three Things In Two Hours

You have two hours and three things you want to get done … how do you decide which things you are going to do?

That was my dilemma the other day. 

I was at our cottage and planned to pack up after lunch to drive home. But there were three things I wanted to do before lunch and I only had a couple of hours: I wanted to go for a 30-minute bike ride, write a blog post and fix the leaky taps in the bathtub. 

I really wanted to do all three. In the back of my mind I thought I could only do one, but I rejected that thought, focussing on what I could do first. 

Though I would only ride my bike for about 30 minutes, getting ready, cooling down afterwards and taking a shower would bump that activity up to an hour minimum. 

Writing a blog post might take 40 minutes minimum, but it could take up to an hour. Since I hadn’t thought of a subject to write about, it was likely going to take an hour. 

Then there were the leaky taps. 

This was a late entry onto my list. The taps had been dripping for a while, but for some reason it seemed like they were dripping a little more now.

I knew this project could spill over any time limit I put on it. 

What would you do?

In the back of my mind, I still (being delusional) hoped I could get all these things done by noon. 

While I was staring at my blank tablet screen, I thought, “Why waste time sitting here trying to think of something to write about?” So I got up and looked at the taps … I thought a bike ride and shower should be last on the list. 

You can probably figure out how those two hours were spent. 

When was the last time you attempted a home repair that fit into a nice, neat little time frame? When have you tried to fix a plumbing problem where everything went smoothly, without a hitch? 

I went to the hardware store to just replace the valves for the hot and cold water taps. But they don’t make a standard tap valve. There were many styles and it looked like they were out of some. The one the hardware employee and I settled on didn’t look like an exact match but I took a chance. 

When I got back to the cottage, I quickly discovered it was not the right one. So back I went to the hardware store for trip two. 

In the end, I decided to just change the washers … which would have been quick and easy except that the screws were stuck. 

I had to soak the taps in CLR to get the calcium off them. 

Guess what I did while I waited for the CLR to do its work? I ate lunch.

I blew right through my two hour window, and didn’t even get the taps fixed. … I didn’t even get one thing done in my time frame – brutal!

On a side note, after lunch when I swapped out the washers, the taps stopped leaking.

Here’s the thing: With all the things we want to do and could do, some things will get crowded out. We just won’t have time for them all. How often are we guilty of not having time for God, simply because of our wants and priorities? Put God in the first spot every day. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Lately, how have you crowded God out of your day? Leave your comments below.

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The Dilemma Of Making A Decision

I’m a little torn this morning. I have a day off and my dilemma today is, “Do I go for a bike ride or play hockey?”

It’s that time of season where I can choose. In a couple of months there will be no choice; it will be hockey or nothing. But today the sun is shining and it’s still warm outside.

That gets me in the mood for a good bike ride and I haven’t ridden in over a week.

But on the other hand, pick-up hockey has started and it’s been a long time since April when I last laced up the skates. I’m kind of excited to get back at it for another season.

On the one hand, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities to hit the trails on my mountain bike. The weather will start to be more unpredictable, and the shortened daylight will make it harder to get in a ride before it’s dark.

So I should really get out there and enjoy the trails while I can, before it’s too late and my bike gets packed away for the winter.

On the other hand, there is something about arriving at the arena in shorts and sandals, and the contrast of the cold temperature inside and the warmth of the sun outside.

It’s a tough decision to make on your day off when you just want to chill and do something fun. Having to make a choice makes it a little like work and less like fun.

You know, I probably have the time to do both today if I really want to. Though, I think I would get a little bit of objection from Lily, who would like to spend some time with me today.

If this was a work decision that I had to make, I would probably be praying about it. I might be conferring with a few other people to get their input. I would certainly make a list of pros and cons for each decision.

I might catch a cold playing hockey going between the extreme temperatures. Or I could get a flat tire in the middle of the bush and have to walk my bike out. I have to play hockey at a certain time, but I can go biking whenever it fits best with my agenda today.

The bottom line, however, is I’m going to get sweaty no matter what I do. It will also take about the same amount of time whichever activity I choose.

I have to get off the couch and out of the house regardless of the type of exercise I decide to put my body through.

And I win no matter what I end up giving myself to.

Wow, I still don’t know what I’m going to do today. All I know is I better make a decision before the decision is taken away from me.

… If I wait too long one option will be off the table.

Here’s the thing: Making a decision for God is important, because then God will work with you, steer you, guide and direct you. But if you delay too long in making your decision, there might come a time when the option to decide is off the table.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  What have you had a difficult time deciding on in the last three months? Leave your comment below.