I gotta go to the doctor today. It’s not something I look forward to each year, but it is what I’d call by definition a ‘necessary evil’ once you begin ‘getting on up there’ in age, of the which I am. The hard part is behind me as I completed the actual sit down meeting with the doctor a week ago. That visit concluded with the inevitable needle-pricks as the requirement in blood was paid, and of course I fainted. But I always do, so it was no big deal - I’m a wimp when it comes to getting blood drawn from me. I guess that’s not the most dignified admission on my part, but in my case it is what it is.
So I get a phone call this morning; the test results from my blood work have been determined, and I have been invited back to his office this afternoon to discuss the dark, hidden secrets of my body that were uncovered with extreme prejudice by the lab technicians. I’m not expecting bad news, but I know I’ll be chided for things that revolve around sodium levels and excessive caffeine intake. That’s usually the norm for me and I’d be foolish to anticipate no less during the pending after-work visit. Again, it only gets worse as I get older.
Aging is natural and occurs every day in all of us. We fight against it, and it is a good fight, but the truth of the matter is the deck is invariably stacked against us. We diet, we exercise, and we constantly ward off the gray in our hair, all to no avail. On the other hand I’ve accepted it; consciously watching as my motives have evolved from physical appearance to physical well-being. I don’t know about you, but it hit me when I reached forty-five a couple of years back. I noticed my efforts in the gym were suddenly going unrewarded by my unrepentant body. Around the same point in time, food suddenly began to taste better, and I discovered new and even unhealthier choices to enhance my appetite. How can a Barq’s root beer and Popeye’s fried chicken not be good for you? Do tell.
Fragile things, these bodies we inhabit as we take our earthly walk through time and space.
Maybe that’s why the Bible is full of verses encouraging us to make the most of the short time we have been allotted here. So many times I catch myself looking down the road to a retirement that may never come or a project that cannot be completed, instead of concentrating on the only moment I’ve been promised that I can call my own. Solomon states in Proverbs, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
My annual doctor’s exam serves as a yearly reminder to me of this fact, and that’s a shame when you think about it. He compares my weight to the one recorded from the year before, as he also ascertains the changes in the levels of cholesterol in my blood. He listens to my heart and takes my blood pressure, and asks personal questions no one else could ever get away with asking me. Those are good things and they are wise things. It tells me where I’ve been and serves to predict where I’m going, at least physically. But you can never be too sure.
That’s why it is also very important (as I age) to keep tabs on my spiritual being, or specifically my heart of hearts. What is in there that should not be? Is there bitterness, or a desire for revenge for something that may or may not have been done to me during the year that passed? Have I wronged someone over that course of time, someone I may need to obtain forgiveness from? Have I done my best with the time I’ve been given, or am I looking ever forward to a tomorrow that may never come, fueled by dreams and ambitions that matter least within the spiritual realm? In a nutshell; as a Christian, have I done my best?
Just as it is unhealthy for me to physically gorge on Popeye’s and Barq’s, it is bad for me spiritually to allow sin to satisfy the hunger that is always present in my heart. I have to watch what I feed my heart and soul and take stock of each, and it is important to do so daily, instead of merely once a year. I can never be certain of what tomorrow holds for me, but when my time here on earth is done and my last chapter has been written, I want to go out on the best of terms.
No comments:
Post a Comment