I must confess that I have been weary of daily fighting the battle with my body and its ever-declining health. The breathing is ragged at times and I just get so tired. But the spirit within me encourages me to look up and not in, to desire the things of God and not the wholeness of body that I sometimes think will bring me peace. There is no peace without God, is there?

This was a hard week for me. Breathing treatments several times a time (some days more than others), up early every day to start my medicine regimen so I get all the meds in on time before the next ones are due. And Tuesday I fell. Hard. A face plant that skinned my nose and bumped my head and we won’t even try to describe the black and blue that were once my knees. But in all this pain and frustration, there was a rejoicing that I didn’t break anything. Yes, I am sore, but I am not broken.

That is how I think of my body these days. I am sore, from being buffeted by all the years I have lived in an imperfect body. But I am not broken. God has held me together all of these years and He will continue to do so until He calls me home.

I read a news story this week that broke my heart about a grandmother in Canada who was euthanized under their new MAiD laws. The saddest part is that she had firmly told her granddaughter who had a durable power of attorney that she wanted to go home to the Lord when He called her home, not before. Physicians and nurses had tried to talk her into ending her life before, trying to persuade her granddaughter that it was best since her “quality of life” was poor. While her granddaughter was away on a ten-day vacation with her husband, the powers that be in Canada saw their chance, had her sign papers and euthanized her. I was appalled at their sheer audacity to end a life that wanted to keep on living until God called her home. They had decided to “play God.” This is the skewed moral compass of our society. Those without God in their lives murder the unborn (and in some cases the young born), the elderly and anyone who gets in their way of having what they want. I tell you this story not to make you angry but to open your eyes to how precious life is, so precious that we should appreciate every moment of life that we have on earth, even if it means spending those minutes in a less than perfect, falling-apart body.

All that to say that my health is not good but God is good. He says “Come” and I go before Him, ask Him to keep me during each day that He gives me and then try to do my best to represent Him and His gift of life to others. Life is indeed a gift, so I hope that you don’t squander it whining and complaining. Love the life God gave you and live it in gratitude for all you have, all you are and all you have yet to be.