So many things on my mind in the midst of this global pandemic. I don’t mind staying home, because I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for several decades. Yet I find myself sometimes depressed, occasionally rolling my eyes, and often confused. The information and ordinances are designed to protect the public – but do they? Or are they false securities? It seems nothing is clear anymore. I can’t trust my eyes because not everything that is visible is true.
I am troubled by the conflict of wanting to protect the people I know have underlying conditions that might put them at greater risk for this disease, and being forced to stay home to stop the spread to anyone. The social distancing rules assume that every person is a threat – and is at risk for dying – subjecting everyone to the stresses of isolation and fear. Stress is a huge strain on the immune system, which we need now more than ever. And not everyone is at risk of dying. Most are not a threat..
I have spent years studying and implementing health strategies for my family that have made our immune systems strong. In those same years, I’ve watched others live recklessly, and succumb to predictable lifestyle diseases. I am forced to stay home so both of us stay well, even though what would be a bump in my family’s road would tip my neighbor’s already foundering boat. I know that sounds prideful. But proper education, nutrition and supplements for my family prevent many expensive medical repairs.
The basis for health is in the terrain of the body itself. If your body is strong, insults don’t bother it. But if your body is weak and ill-prepared for war, any insult, bacteria or virus will topple it. A drug may kill the virus, but not necessarily save you. War isn’t a third party affair, with foreign invader and foreign solution fighting on the soil of your tissues. You are involved and have a stake in the outcome. It’s you that is ravaged whether you are fighting or not. Your personal strength and willingness to harbor any invasive substance make the difference in how much foothold the attacker gains on your soil. I prefer to build strength from within, so no pathogen finds my body hospitable to even set up camp.
There are so many unknowns. Like all of life. I am reminded that my own bathroom is statistically the most dangerous place I can be. It doesn’t stop me from going there, and I don’t have safety nets rigged for potential falls, or a lifeguard in case I drown or scald myself. I just shower and relieve myself with abandon.
I recognize that others have fears I don’t share, and it’s incredibly hard to find solid information. It’s difficult to know what’s true when the experts disagree. When I was studying for my doctorate three years ago, much of my research was done online. Historical remedies and records are no longer available on common search engines, but are officially debunked as non-scientific hearsay. I have trouble accepting that something that worked for an entire population, like Ayurvedic medicine or homeopathy, is suddenly non-scientific. How do we explain the observations that brought these systems into place? The scientific provings behind homeopathy are vast and well documented. It only makes sense that these systems would be maligned if competing interests were more profitable. Teaching proper nutrition and wellness practices – something the government went to great lengths to do in the early to mid-1900’s, teaching rural housewives about proper nutrition and how to safely can food to prevent botulism – was a major boon to our national health. Information on sterilization and proper temperatures was crucial to preventing disease and disseminated freely. Many of our home remedies were developed in a time when doctors were scarce and people were assumed to be capable. It’s tragic when disease outstrips the capabilities of the current system, that we no longer have the information available and must re-instruct people in basic handwashing. Our people have been duped into thinking that technology is their savior and that they cannot do for themselves.
Life is from God alone. We do not choose to come into this world, nor how we will leave. This body is a gift. All we can do is respect it as the most precious gift anyone will ever receive and use it according to its purpose. Stowing it away in a safe place wastes it, and filling it full of junk spoils it. We need to maintain it as if our life depended on high quality fuels and use it as a daily driver for bringing goodness and light into others around us.
In a world without the knowledge that God alone controls life and death, security against all threats is a fleeting goal. Legislation and technology can never prevent illness, injury or death. Subjecting every person to the lowest common denominator of wellness, as if, in protecting the weakest, all will be safe, isn’t the best use of our resources. Who determines what comprises health, or wisdom? Who is our protector? Does that protector have my best interests at heart? – or its own?
We have our eyes in the wrong place. We are so frightened by the giants in front of us that we forget the God who has carried us through much worse. The problem isn’t our neighbor; it is our own fear, and trusting in the world’s props to save us.
We can know God, the author of life, and we don’t have to fear death. It isn’t the final word. Disease may strike us, because it is a consequence of the Fall, but Christ has conquered the sin that brought death to our doors.
“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7
Health by Brenda 