You get what you get

One of the biggest rules in our house is "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." If you are mad that you got the wrong color cup, or think your sibling got more ice cream, or if you have to pick up your toys, or dinner isn't what you want it to be, then apply this statement. I am not sure where it came from; school, Grandma, or someone else, but it has become a theme in our home. The kids repeat it to each other whenever someone is whining over some injustice. It makes sense and it works.

Often I have thought about how this rule applies to life. At times I'll find myself complaining in my head about something and immediately I'll say to myself "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." It's a great motto. Let me explain. There are many things in life that we cannot control. We can't control trials, random happenings, or other people. We just can't. But we can control how we react to them. For example, my two greatest struggles in this life are depression and the inactivity of my family in the Gospel. Both are things I cannot control having. Yes, I can take something to help me better cope with my depression, but I still have it. I can't take something to help my family come back to the gospel. I just pray for them, put their names on the temple prayer role, and hope. But I can control how I react. I could be negative and focus on how unfair it is that I have these trials. Why won't they just go away on their own? Why have they plagued me for so long? This stinks! I'll still have the trials after all the ranting and raving. There is nothing wrong with having a day or week feeling like this when our trials hit us so hard they knock us down, but at some point we need to move on. I can suck it up and realize "You get what you get." These trials aren't going away, but I can accept them as part of my life and move on. When I am having a blue day, I can do things to help me snap out of it. Or I could whine about it to everyone and drive them all insane. Focusing on the negative won't help. Same thing with my family. I can just say "This is what I've got for a trial" and deal.

We often use "you get what you get" when my kids think someone else has been given something better. "It's not fair that Anna has more snack", etc. The same can apply to trials. I see it as coveting if we focus on wanting other people's trials. "She has it so easy. She has no trials." or "If I had that challenge, my life would be so much better. Why is she struggling with it? It's nothing." Lies, lies, lies. If you had the life of someone who appears to have no trials, you'd quickly learn that their life isn't always sunshine and lollipops. If you had someone else's trial that you deem "easy", you'd get sick of it quickly and learn it ain't that easy after all. Yes, some people seem to have more curve balls thrown to them than others. Life isn't fair that way. We all don't get the exact same amount of trials, like kids getting the exact same number of crackers for a snack. So be it.

The choice we have every day is to accept the trials as our own and do what we can to live with them or overcome them. Some just won't be beat in this life. But the sooner we are willing to "get what we get and not throw a fit", the better our lives will be for it.