When We're Sick...

Being all into natural health can sometimes be a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, I love knowing what I need to do to help my kids get well. We rarely get sick (is it just me, or are the things going around particularly nasty this year?), and when we do it usually resolves within a couple days without a doctor visit or traditional medication. On the other hand, it is far too easy to take the entire burden of my children's health on my own shoulders, weighing myself down with expectations that are not only unfair, but just unrealistic. We WILL occasionally get sick, sometimes at the most inconvenient times. That doesn't make me a failure.

I often notice people who are into nutrition or "real food" obsessing over every detail - most recently it was a conversation about how the different ranches in our local area raise their beef. Now, there is scientific evidence about how grass fed vs. grain fed changes the nutrition and safety of meat. I know all that stuff, I've read it too. But I think it can quickly turn into a humanistic "worship," if you will? A thought process that says, "It's all up to me, this is about what decisions I make, and if I make bad ones we will suffer. If I make good ones we will thrive." Maybe our family is unique, but I don't find that to be true. There have been many times in my life when I have done everything "right" and still not had the outcome I hoped for. There have been many other times when I have done almost nothing right, and just because of God's amazing mercy and grace, things have come out just fine.

Once, when I was talking to our Christian naturopath about this stuff, he told me, "This natural health stuff is not God, this is just wisdom." That really stuck with me.

God has been teaching me about His grace for the past several years. I can't tell you how freeing it is to begin to deeply realize that His blessings don't come about as a result of my good behavior. They come just because He's good, because it's His nature and He loves me. When I release my control and expectations over the situations in our lives, suddenly I have more energy, I'm more at peace and happier, and things still work out - I don't have to will them to happen!

God has given all of us a measure of wisdom. We have the tools to carry out what He has called us to do. We also inherently know where the danger areas are - places where we need His strength so we can avoid the traps Satan would set for us. These ARE our responsibility, the talents we've been given. When I try to function beyond those, I burn out because I'm working in my own strength which is very small.

This is a little bit abstract today and I'm not sure anybody will follow it completely, but here it is anyway. :)