Pinched Nerve and Free Time

Recently I have had the delightful opportunity to experience a pinched nerve.  It was 3 months of getting 3 hours of sleep a night (I played a lot of Farmville 2) and pain like no other experience I have ever had.  I think the best way to describe it is never being able to be comfortable or pain free.  My thigh, hip, knee and back had issues and I could barely walk right so that my thigh greatly atrophied.  You never know how much you love your thigh, hip, knee and back working until they decide to revolt due to whatever reason (probably old age--ugh!).  In the past month I have come leaps and bounds and things have stopped hurting so much. 

Because of this pinched nerve, I have not been able to work one of my part time jobs because I can't get in and out of my car and I can't carry anything heavy.  I have had a bunch of free time - my Friday and Saturday nights have been spent with my family doing whatever we want but in the end together as a family.   And now as I am almost recovered significantly I almost don't want to return to this job.  My wife has encouraged me to not return.  We have made it without the job even with mounting medical bills from my back due to my wife's budgeting skills (she is an angel!).  The job pays some of the extra bills we have like Scouting, Wood Badge, etc.

So I have come to difficult decision.  Is the freedom I feel from not having the job worth the money I won't make at the job?  That is a great question.  Easy to make because my family is always #1.

Work can be ennobling and fulfilling, but remember Jacob’s warning not to “spend … your labor for that which cannot satisfy.” ⁵ If we devote ourselves to the pursuit of worldly wealth and the glitter of public recognition at the expense of our families and our spiritual growth, we will discover soon enough that we have made a fool’s bargain. The righteous work we do within the walls of our homes is most sacred; its benefits are eternal in nature. It cannot be delegated. It is the foundation of our work as priesthood holders.