God wants us to be healthy – emotionally, spiritually, physically. We should strive to be healthy in how we deal with conflict, how we live in our relationships, and how we see ourselves. Being healthy changes you, and it is God’s strength from the inside out that gives you fuel for life, strength to serve, and love to pour into others. The goal is not just “numbers” or “results”, but to be healthy in life, walking with Christ – because that is what will truly get the long term numbers and best results. We want to be healthy – but sometimes we will get sick.
I have always been a pretty physically healthy person. I never got sick much growing up – I actually had perfect attendance for most of elementary school. But I still did get sick – I particularly remember the chicken pox – that was not a fun week of life! I remember putting on this weird pink paste – it helped the itching, but it also made my sisters laugh at me a lot. That was not a fun week.
I bring this up because sometimes we think that being healthy means that we will never get sick. We sometimes think that we will never have down times, or mess up in conflict, or say the wrong thing. We will! (And we need to apologize when we do.) We will get sick, but that is not the same as being unhealthy – having unhealthy patterns that don’t change. Being unhealthy means we blame others, don’t take ownership of our emotions, run from conflict, have a wrong view of ourselves, and don’t value each person. Unhealthy patterns need to be addressed, dealt with, and changed with God’s grace and boundaries. Being sick from time to time, though, is not the same as having an ongoing, unhealthy pattern.
Getting sick doesn’t mean you are unhealthy. When I got chicken pox my mom didn’t look down with sorrowful eyes and say, “You are such a sickly child.” No, being sick is part of life. We will have dark times in our lives – this doesn’t mean we aren’t committed to the Light. Life is full of seasons, and some of those seasons are darker than others, in some of those seasons you will be more prone to get sick. Don’t expect yourself never to get sick, never to have hard times. God loves you and is with you. Stay close to Him, even in those seasons when you are struggling. Stay close to others and don’t totally disconnect. We need to be there for each other in our hard times.
“Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15
