Health

THURS., JUNE 4, 1987, 6:25 AM
FARM, STUDY

You are making the initial preparations for the composition of a Spring Ruminations on this theme, and you have more than enough material from Me, as usual. Therefore you haven’t requested anything special or particularly current. However, you haven’t found one with this clear, simple title, so, gracious Spirit that I am, I offer it to you. Write on, o son.

There are various ways to define and describe health, and you know that, as the Creator of humankind and of individual humans, I approve of an holistic description – the quality of total functioning. Healthy people are physically active, intellectually curious, emotionally active, socially involved, actively concerned with the condition of the earth, and spiritually growing and developing. Now take My good ol’ premise that the first shall be last, and the last, first, and the flip-flop says that the active growth of spirit is the key factor in health.

This would not be so important if life were limited to one earthly existence and if spirit was merely a deep emotional development during the course of this one life, with nothing after death. In such a perspective it is quite reasonable to put major emphasis on the physical body, for when it falters and dies all other facets of the self simply cease to be. Finis. You live on only in “seeds that you have planted” – children, trees, ideas, examples.

Yet you know, and I reaffirm, that human life is different from that of a tomato plant or a marigold. It is more like a rosebush than an annual (though this is still an incomplete analogy). When winter comes the rose bush appears to die. If it is pruned and mulched it still appears lifeless, but is better prepared for the new life. Spring comes, and new growth appears, growth that can exceed that of the year before. If the plant is a good one, and if it is fertilized well and has good sun, soil, and moisture each year it will surpass what it was the year before.

Human life is not limited to the seasons of earth time. Lives in the earth can be counted in years, months, and days, with great variety in the length. Yet the spirit is ongoing after its creation, and therefore the main criterion for the health of each created being is the extent to which this spirit, which came from Me and will return to Me, is developing through being manifested and utilized. Sometimes spiritual development comes from situations of physical and mental challenge… overcoming obstacles successfully. And sometimes growth comes in accepting a condition that you cannot change… living productively with some variety of a “thorn in the flesh.”

Certain measures correlate with good health. With normal blood pressure you can generally accomplish more, for more years, than with high blood pressure. Yet when total human functioning is considered it would be difficult to prove that those with normal blood pressure readings are healthier.

You see, I don’t see length of earth life as the sole criterion for health… and you are not surprised! Some who died in Vietnam are healthier than some who survived and now lead foolish, self-centered lives. Some who plant trees or work to reduce the pollution of the air or the slaughter of certain creatures are healthier than some who run daily or even who are frantically active in the life of a church.