THE PINK OF HEALTH—THE BEST OF TIMES
	JuLY/AUGUST 2004

by Don Huntington, Editor In Chief

Refuse to be ill. Never tell people you are ill; never own it to yourself. Illness is one of those things which a man should resist on principle. (Edward George Bulwer-Lytton)

I'm too busy and having too much fun these days, it seems, to worry about circumstances in the world that I can't do anything about, or even to worry about the condition of my body. I heartily applaud Bulwer-Lytton's prescription for health in this month's quote, and have practiced it myself for years.

Plato made the comment, "Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance." He was right! I just don't have enough time to worry about whether I'm starting to come down with something or wondering if I should engage in some preventive health measures.

I'm thankful every day for my good health. I may be dead of some dread disease by the time anyone reads this but, if so, I will have gone out by ignoring the condition as long as possible.

Fretting about the state of my health — whether I am coming down with something or whether I should be dosing myself with some medicine or vitamin…, now that would be a nightmarish way to live.

The other thing I refuse to be concerned about is the condition of the times I live in. Ralph Waldo Emerson made the profound observation, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." And he lived through the Civil War!

As with everything else in life, my response to such things as health and the condition of the world around me all comes down to my attitudes.

Of course, terrible things are going on in this "veil of tears" — problems with poverty and the environment that I need to fight against. But none of these evils has the power to overthrow my internal experience of joy and even delight. Heaven teaches me every day what to do with my time, to use terms from Emerson's quote.

Anybody brought by a time machine from Emerson's world into ours would think that he or she had been transported to a paradise. Things like indoor plumbing, modern hospitals, the Internet, air conditioning, air travel, the interstate highway system, malls, Walmarts, DVD players, and hi-definition TVs would seem to belong to a heavenly level of existence.

The current fashion is to criticize modern American society with its strip malls, fast food, and car dealerships. The flip side, of course, is to long for a quieter, sweeter, slower-paced past. Frost referred to this past made simple by the loss of detail," because ail," because that past never really existed.

What's wrong with us, that so often we are not able to receive with delight the wonderful gifts our technological society has given us? The problem — my problem — comes down to the fact that if my life is untouched by grace, I will be miserable even if I live in a time and place providing Aspirin and flush toilets.

On the other hand, if my life is awash in grace, then I will be filled with joy even if my stay on earth should turn out to be harsh and short.

CS Lewis once observed that the doctrine of the unconditional love of the Creator for His created beings arose in a society that did not have penicillin.

Helen Keller enjoyed her life though she was both blind and deaf. My grandmother laughed her way through cancer and terminal rheumatoid arthritis. Billy Graham is preaching with a smile on his face though he is dying of Parkinson's Disease. My friend who is undergoing chemo for serious cancer, keeps cheerfully working and playing in between the times he is in the bathroom throwing up. And somewhere it says that Jesus, himself, died "for the joy set before Him."

I refuse to be concerned about my health. I'm going to enjoy the good things that come to me as a citizen in America in the 21st Century. I will enjoy the products of all this marvelous technology to the extent I can do so without making any sacrifice for them!

I'm in the pink of health living in the best of times. A principle of grace is infecting my attitudes in both of these areas.