One Whole Person

I’m terrified of sickness. I’m probably border-line obsessive about it. Every sniffle from my five-year-old, every low-appetite meal from my two-year-old and my brain launches into “what-if” mode. What if we’re starting yet another round of colds, earaches, and respiratory illness? What if the stomach bug has infiltrated past the front lines of my strict hand washing policy? My mind then transfers this “what-if” worry game to my heart and pretty soon, my whole body’s not feeling too well.

Worry rots our guts. It isn’t confined to bouncing around the walls of our brain. It leaks slow and steady into the stomach, the intestines, the blood stream, depleting the energy-levels of our bodies. We cannot compartmentalize our anxiety. We can’t cage up our emotions. We can’t watch them prowling around like lions behind bars at a zoo. We are whole people, with minds, hearts, bodies, and souls integrated into one magnificent system. Indeed, I feel emotions prowling from my head to my toes, settling as a burning sensation in my esophagus, sitting heavy on my immune system.Thankfully, worry is not the only thing that can invade our bodies. Praise does the same thing.

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being praise his holy name” (Psalm 103). Praise starts in our souls, and is directed to God, but it reverberates through our inmost being – our hearts, minds, and guts.

Which would you rather have rattling your bones – praise or worry?

A question to ponder. Meanwhile, a picture to enjoy, taken by my father. I’m missing my Northwest home this time of year and the juxtaposition of fall color and evergreens. I’m grateful that we’ve had a beautiful fall here in North Carolina.

Pond by Pacific Crest Trail in Washington. Photograph taken by Nick Krantz.