Avoiding Illness

"Elliot, why don't you sit over there on the couch?"  I asked him, as I watched him try to squeeze into a chair next to his three year old sister, who wasn't having any part of sharing her seat.

"I can't sit there!"  He said.

I looked at the couch.  It was completely empty of occupants and I could see no pythons, wolverines, or other terrifying creatures lying in wait for unsuspecting sofa sitters.  "I think you probably can," I told him.

"No!"  He said.  "Vince was sitting there before supper and I don't want to catch what he has."

Vince has been sick, running a fever and just not feeling like himself.  Elliot, knowing that febrile illnesses are caused by germs, was trying to avoid them as much as possible, while still living in the same house as the diseased individual.  I could just imagine coming home from work the next day to find him making a pile of Vince's things to burn them, like they did with the toys at the end of the Velveteen Rabbit.

"I think," I said, in what I hoped was a rational sounding voice.  "If you want to avoid germs, probably the best way is to start washing your hands more regularly.  That seems to work pretty well to stop the spread of contagious illnesses.  How many times did you wash your hands today, Elliot?"

He was silent for a bit.  "I think once,"  he said, pretty honestly.  "After I fed the dog and cat, I know I washed them.  But washing hands is different.  It would take terribly much time to wash them all of the time.  I'd rather just stay away from germs."

Elliot clearly has some concept of the germ theory of disease.  He also has a fear of getting sick.  The problem is that the things he does to ward off illness -- things like not sitting in a seat his brother occupied a couple of hours before -- aren't nearly as helpful as just washing his hands.

There is no doubt that it is easier to prevent illness than to treat it after it happens.  At the same time, I see people all of the time who choose to not take care of their chronic illnesses, not get routine screening tests, and who avoid vaccinations who show up at my office asking me to help them with something that is far worse than it needed to be.

Of course I will do whatever I can to help them.  Although, I will often gently mention to someone running a 102 fever, "Maybe you should get a flu vaccine next year."

Far more important, Jesus has set out for us a pattern to live by.  Purity in thought and action, love in word and deed, and a focus on Him are all things that we are called to do and when we follow this path, we avoid all kinds of evil.  Our relationships with others are simply better when we choose to follow this simple path.

It isn't an easy road, but it is the most successful at warding off evil and bringing real joy into our lives and that's far more important than avoiding your brother's virus.

A Trip to New Orleans

"So, how was your vacation?"  My patient asked me.  "You don't look very tan.  Did Hurricane Michael keep you off the beach?"

I laughed a little.  "I was in New Orleans for a medical conference,"  I told the older lady.  "Hurricane Michael was fortunately pretty far east of us.  I guess it's hard to get tan from fluorescent lights and I was inside learning a chunk of the time I was there."

"Oh," she said, a little disappointed.  "I thought maybe you went somewhere interesting."

"New Orleans is pretty interesting," I said.  "But it was more about me learning things I didn't know before.  Don't I look smarter than the last time you saw me?"

"Not really," she said.  "But I'm glad if you learned a lot."

I generally go to some medical conference every year.  It isn't to meet people, to get a tan, or even to see the sights in different places, it is to sit through somewhat boring lectures and learn a few things that I can put into practice to help my patients.

Maybe I could get by without continuing medical education, but I know that over time, my patients would suffer.  I want to be the best doctor I can be for the sake of the people I serve.

In any arena of life we have the option of coasting by or of putting forth maximum effort.  Some things probably aren't very important -- it probably doesn't matter if you develop ultimate skill in buttering bread or brushing your teeth, but in most things it is better to do our best.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might..." the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote many years ago.

He was right.  We will have so much more satisfaction and those around us will gain as well, if we do all things, as if we were working for the Lord.

Even if maybe our tans aren't the best.

A Googloplex

"Vince," Elliot said importantly.  "Do you know what 'de-zillion' is?"

"That's not a word,"  Vince said, a bit shortly, I thought.

"Yes, it is,"  Elliot said.  "It means ten years, doesn't it Dad?"

"I think you actually mean the word 'de-cade,'" I said.

"Oh,"  Elliot said and then paused a moment.  "I was really close to what it actually was."

I often find it interesting how my children use number to describe things.  A few months ago, when Elaine was experiencing severe back pain, Elliot was praying for her in our family worship.  "Please God," he said.  "Please help Mom feel a googolplex times better."

Apparently this is the biggest number that he knows and in the context of his prayer, it was a very kind thing to say.  Even though Elliot has no idea what a googolplex actually is, his Heavenly Father heard and knew exactly what he meant.

I have always thought that it is wonderful that God can understand what we mean, regardless of the words we use to say it.  He isn't impressed with our vocabulary or our grammar.  He doesn't struggle when we use words that aren't quite right for the situation.

Paul in Romans chapter 8 said "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with wordless groans.  And He who searches our heart knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."

It is such a blessing that God hears our hearts cries and answers them, even when our words are stilted and broken. 

He reaches down and gives peace, healing, and leading through the darkest days.

Even to make a little boy's mother a googolplex times better.

Return to Elliotland

"Dad," Elliot told me the other evening.  "When I'm a little older I want to write a story that's a little like the Lord of the Rings."

I suppose that's not surprising since I've been reading that lengthy story for some time to my children.  "What will it be about?"  I asked.

"Well, it will take place in a magical place called 'Elliotland' and it will have a Dark Lord called Ara-corn and his father's name will be Ara-lorn and there will be a wizard named Ara-zorn."

"All their names rhyme?"  I asked curiously.  It could get to be a difficult to follow the characters if all their names were like this.

"Of course,"  Elliot said.  "In stories like this, all of the people who are related to each other have names that rhyme.  And the road to the Dark Lord's Tower will be guarded by an octopus with a thousand arms called Kay-lob."

"That sounds dangerous," I said.  "But I don't think an octopus can have a thousand arms.  Octo means eight.  What you're talking about would be a mili-pus."

"Yes, and there will be a Jabberwocky there as well and probably slithy toves -- but they aren't important."

"Sounds like you have it all figured out," I told my son.

"I forgot to tell you that there will be ring wraiths.  Only there will be ten of them in my story, not just nine like in the Lord of the Rings!"

"Wow," I said.  "That'll be a big seller. 'Ten percent more ring wraiths.'  Who could resist such an offer?"

Elliot is only seven, but he has figured out that it is a lot easier to borrow from stories that you like than to generate new ideas.  I suppose it isn't too hard to take an existing plot and pump up the volume on it a bit and change a few names and have an exciting story.

If you liked Lord of the Rings, you'll love Return to Elliotland!

Most books have flaws, which I suppose means that they can be improved on.  I happen to like the Lord of the Rings, but I'm sure there are plenty of things that Tolkien could have written differently and perhaps the book would have been better.

The one book that doesn't have this issue is the Bible.  As I read it and apply it to my life, there are blessings that I experience that I couldn't in any other way.  I hear my heavenly Father speaking to me and it encourages me and lifts me and drives me to be more like Him.

It doesn't need ten percent more of anything.  If we can only listen to its words and live them, we too can have life.

The Other Golden Rule

Elliot and Vince were playing chess.  Or rather, they had been playing chess.  Neither one will ever be confused with Bobby Fischer and Vince was getting tired of it, although Elliot still wanted to go another round.

"Vince won't play with me,"  Elliot said accusingly.

"But I did play with you," Vince said.  "I played two games, but I don't want to play chess any more right now."

"Maybe Elliot, it's time to play something else," I suggested.

"But Vince needs to play with me!"  Elliot said emphatically.  "That's what I want him to do."

"Elliot," I asked."  Do you know what the Golden Rule says?"

"Of course," he answered promptly.  "It says others should do to you what they would want you to do to them."

"Sort of,"  I said.  "It says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"That's what I said," Elliot replied.

"Well, you seemed to be applying it to Vince and not to yourself.  Maybe you could play something with Vince now that he wants to do."

My children have a tough time putting the Golden Rule into practice, but truth to tell, I'm not always so good at it myself.  It is just not always easy to think of what will make other people happy and much easier to focus on what I know will please me.

Humans are inherently selfish.  We think about what we want and what we need before the thought even crosses our minds that there others out there who have needs too.

This is a change that Jesus works in our hearts when we become His child.  To see the needs of others and to truly try to meet them is our goal.

To do unto others as we would have them do to us.

Food or Snacks?

"Come on, Victoria," I said encouragingly.  "It's time to eat supper."

I looked over at the table where I could see sweet corn and spaghetti resting in bowls.  Nearby, in its own separate bowl were some green beans.

(I think 50 percent of our garden's output this year was green beans and okra, but I digress)...

"Don't you want to eat some tasty food?"  I asked coaxingly.

"No!"  One thing about three year old children is that they are very black and white.  Victoria's statements are always very definitive and often punctuated by ear rending shrieks.  One appeared at this exact moment.  "I don't like food!  I like snacks!"

Eventually, after some encouragement, Victoria joined the rest of the Waldron clan at the table.  After prayer, we began to eat -- real food.

Victoria is quite honest.  While I suppose there is some argument about whether snacks are really food, there is no doubt that Victoria likes things in the snack category very well.  Unfortunately, when you research the "Healthy Plate" (which has apparently taken the place of the food pyramid) you don't find snacks mentioned.  There are Vegetables, Fruits, Healthy Protein and Whole Grains.  To the side sits a cup of water, but no snacks are to be found anywhere.

Three year olds everywhere are shocked.

The thing about snacks is that they aren't really intended to be main courses of meals.  Even if you bite the edges off of an oatmeal cream pie, it still isn't a square meal, not by any stretch of the imagination.

It feels to me as though many people want to experience spiritual things in terms of snacks.  Reading the Bible is too hard and so people get some books by Christian authors or just books about "spirituality" and read those instead.  They find going to church is too difficult and so they try to meditate a bit and pray for a couple of minutes on their way to work.

Any relationship takes effort and having one with God the Father is no different.  We need to speak with Him frequently and not just when Florence is coming to visit.

When the storm comes we find that we are weak and unable to stand in the hurricane.  This is simply because a life lived based on snacks is a life bound for weakness and vitamin deficiency.

It is only through a real connection with God that we can survive the hard things that await us in the future.

Let us eat real meals, not just snacks.

Called to Serve

"Do you want to be a wedding photographer when you grow up?"  Elliot asked Anna.

Anna has started helping my wife take photos at weddings and seems to enjoy it greatly.  That said, she is only eleven and Elliot is seven, so their view of future endeavors could be a bit hazy.

Anna paused, considering her future.  "No," she said.  "I don't think I want to be a wedding photographer when I grow up."

"What do you want to do when you grow up?"  Vince asked, with his mouthful of tater tot casserole.

"Vince, it is hard for me to understand you when you talk with your mouth full of food,"  Anna said, then answered the question.  "I think that when I grow up I would like to work helping homeless people in Mexico."

The children were all silent at this bit of news.  "Don't you like taking pictures at weddings?"  Elliot asked.

"I do like taking pictures at weddings,"  Anna said.  "But there are lots of people who take pictures at weddings.  There aren't a lot of people who want to help homeless people, who have no money and aren't very clean, in Mexico.  And I'm good at cleaning things up and working hard.  I think I could help more people that way."

I don't know what Anna's future holds.  She has a lot of time to change her mind, but I was blessed by the simple wisdom in the reasons she gave her brothers for wanting to serve.

Most of us want to do something glamorous and work with interesting people.  Unfortunately, there aren't quite enough of those jobs to go around.

I think of the passage in the Bible where Jesus told a story about judgment.  At the end of it, the king says "Truly, I tell you, as you have done it unto the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

We are called to serve -- not the high and the wealthy, but the poor, the people without.  As we look for the needs around us and attempt to meet them, we are doing something more, we are serving our Master.

The world has a lot of glamorous people doing interesting things, it probably doesn't need more of them.  What it really needs is Christians who are willing to serve people in need.

Changing Computer Systems

"So are you excited about the change?"  The older man asked me.

"Well, not exactly," I said.

"Is it going to be better than what you have now?"  He asked quizzically.

"That's what they keep telling me,"  I replied.  "It's just that I'm used to the computer system that we have now and even if it isn't perfect, I guess I'm just comfortable with its faults."

I've never been a big fan of change.  I usually have toast for breakfast with peach jelly, unless I decide to change things up with blackberry jelly instead.  For seven years during my Medical School and Residency I had Raisin Bran (always Post, never Kellogg's) every morning for breakfast.  Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic may not have stopped it from sinking, but it isn't likely to help my living room either.  I tend to keep the same routine and it doesn't bother me at all.

Those are relatively unimportant things, but there comes a time when we need change in order to achieve something better.

There is always some pain when we make the decision to move from where we are to improve something in our lives.

Change is necessary in many aspects of life, but it is seldom self-initiated.  Our goal must be to pro-actively decide on the areas we need to grow in occupationally or spiritually and then decide what we going to do to begin that growth.

Only then can we transition from stable mediocrity (but relative comfort) to the men and women God created us to be.  We may not like the change, but in the end we will survive and be better for it -- even the process of changing electronic health records.

Crows

The crows were shrieking from our peach tree.  I walked down into our backyard to investigate.  As I approached, a whole flock of the black birds rose from the tree.

I looked over the tree and found that there were still plenty of peaches on the tree.  Then, I noticed that the crows had not been idle.  There were multiple peaches that had gashes in them, just the size of a crow's beak.  Crows apparently don't eat a whole peach.  They just take a peck out of one and the move on to the next one.

It brought me back to earlier in the summer when I had planted a couple of rows of corn only to find the crows pulling them up by the roots and eating the grain of corn off of them.

In both situations I was angry -- angry at these birds.  My mind went to the last chapter of the book of Jonah.  There, Jonah is angry too, because a plant that had shaded him from the heat was destroyed by some insect pest.  God said to Jonah at the very of the book "You have been concerned about this plant, although you did not tend it or make it grow.  It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left hand -- and also many animals?"

I was different from Jonah, though.  He had concern for a plant that he didn't plant, merely because it was providing him shade.  I had worked hard in my garden and tending my peach tree and yet, maybe my anger at the animal pests in our garden wasn't so different from this Old Testament prophet's anger. 

My wife had some silver tape that I put up in the tree and that seemed to frighten the crows away.  In the end, we had a nice crop of peaches.  The message from the last chapter of Jonah still comes through to me.  Jonah valued something very trivial and saw the important things (the people of Nineveh) as worthless.  I don't know if he ever learned his lesson, but it is something very important for each of us to learn.

It is easy to be deluded into thinking that the things in our life are important.  Whether it is sweet corn and peaches or i phones and new cars, it is easy to focus on trivial things rather than on the things God cares about most.

God cares about people way more than he cares about the "stuff" of the Universe.  He loves them.

We should too.

The Best Meal...?

"How are you this morning?"  I asked my patient.  It was 8:30 on a Thursday morning.

"Really hungry!"  She told me.  "You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I missed it to come and see you."

"Oh," I said.  "I'm sorry.  What do you usually eat for breakfast?  A pop tart?"  Attempting a little humor seemed in order...

I should have known better.  The older woman I was speaking with was not amused.  "A pop tart isn't breakfast!"  She told me heatedly.  "That's wrong with young people these days.  They eat stuff like that instead of real food for breakfast!"

"What do you usually eat for breakfast?"

"Well, I usually start with sausage or bacon, then I have an egg, and I usually finish up with some grits."

I happened to have a resident physician working with me.  I looked over at him.  "Do you like grits?"  I asked him.

"No sir," he replied.  "I've tried them, but I can't get past their texture."

This launched another set of comments from my patient on the subject of how good grits were and how these days you could get a variety pack at Food Lion with three different flavors in them.

As my patient gave me an earful, I thought about breakfast.  It is often touted as the most important meal of the day, though to be honest, I don't know who has actually ranked them.  Mine often consists of toast and jelly and seems to be adequate to get me through to lunch time.

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but more of a priority for me is to spend some time with God before I start my day.  I suppose I pray for a number of things, but most of all, that I could be His servant that day, serving Him as I minister to my patient's needs..

By noon, my toast and jelly are long digested (as would grits be if I ate those), but the strength I get from my time with God is still there.  It is why, even though breakfast is so important, I could skip it in a pinch, but I can't skip my time with my Heavenly Father.

Corn Smut

"Dad," Vince told me, as we were husking corn from our garden.  "Do you wish that our corn had smut on it?"

"No, Vince," I said.  "I'm really glad we don't have corn smut in our garden."

For those who don't know, there is a fungus (Ustilago maydis) that can affect corn and turn the kernels large and black.  It certainly doesn't make sweet corn look appetizing.  I'm guessing it changes the taste considerably too.

"Did you know, Dad," Vince told me.  "Corn smut is actually more nutritious than the ears of corn it is found on?"

"Really?"  I asked.  Sometimes talking to Vince is like talking to a Wikipedia article.

"Yes," Vince said, warming to his subject.  "There are farmers in Mexico who get permission from the Mexican government to infect their corn plants with smut.  They call it 'Mexican Truffles.'  I guess it sounds better than corn smut on a restaurant menu."

"Wow, it sounds tasty,"  I said, a little sarcastically I'm afraid.   "Would you like to eat some Mexican Truffles?  We could try to find some."

"No!"  Vince said.  "I would not like to eat that at all."

The concept of corn smut is interesting, the application is a different story.

Over my years of being a physician, I have met many people who thought that the idea of lifestyle modification was interesting.  I have met few who were committed to the changes needed to really eat healthily and begin a consistent exercise plan.

It is always a challenge to move from the contemplation stage to the action phase.

Even more, we have a challenge of being Christians in more than just name.  I hear people say that this world would be a better place if people just did what Jesus said and that is true.  It is a great concept, but living as a follower of Jesus doesn't happen by accident.

At the same time, we must move from the concept of Christianity to a true relationship with Jesus Christ.  We can know everything about Christianity and without that relationship and the changes that it brings to our lives, it is worthless.  Just like knowing everything about corn smut isn't much good if you never eat it.

DuoLingo

"Dad, we're doing DuoLingo," Elliot told me.  "Anna started on it and she is learning Spanish, but I've started too."

"Really," I said.  "What language are you learning?"

"Chinese!"  Elliot told me proudly.

"Mandarin or Cantonese?"  I asked my seven year old son.

"What?"  He said.

"Never mind," I replied.  "Have you learned any yet?"

"Ni Hao!"  He said.  "That means hello.  And I learned 'Wah' too, but I am not totally sure what it means."

"I guess it will be handy to know Chinese," I said.

"Yes," Elliot said.  "I'll just start talking to Chinese people in Chinese and they will be so surprised that I know it.  Once I finish learning Chinese then I'm going to start on Japanese.  I'll have to decide what other languages to learn after that."

I didn't really know what to say.  My experience is that it takes a while to learn new languages -- even if you have an amazing app that speeds the process.  I've lived long enough to know that many things are harder than they seem.

At the same time, it is awfully easy to shoot down the plans of others as not reality based.

Norman Vincent Peale said "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will land among the stars."  Of course, this is a crazy quote.  First of all, the magnitude of difference in distance between the moon and the stars is phenomenal.  Beyond that, the stars are actually farther away than the moon.  If you fall short of the moon, you are more likely to end up some where in orbit around the earth rather than close to Alpha Centauri.  It is like saying shoot for London because even if you miss, you  might end up on Neptune.

The point that Mr. Peale was trying to make was that we should set our sights high.  It is generally a bigger problem that we set their sights too low than that we aim too high.  As we get older, we see our limits far more easily than our abilities.

We need to encourage others to attempt great things, even if maybe they seem beyond their abilities.  You may be surprised at the things they can do.  You may be surprised at the things that you can do once you try.

The Loving Thing to Do

I was emptying the dishwasher.  There seemed to be a lot more items in it than usual.

Very carefully I stacked the big plates, followed by some smaller plates.  Then, I put some bowls on top of that and then topped it with some cups.  The stack was huge, but I was determined to carry it to where it went all at once.  I picked them up and shuffled towards the cabinet where they were kept.

Suddenly, I caught my toe on some unseen crack in the floor.  I tried to catch my balance, but it was too late...

Crash!

I opened my eyes.  I was lying in bed with not a plate to be seen around me.

Bang!

My beautiful wife seemed to be doing something very noisy with a fly swatter.  I looked at my alarm clock.  It was 11:15 pm.

"What are you doing?"  I asked Elaine.

"There were some very noisy flies in our room," she said.  "They were keeping me awake."  Bang!  "Got one!"  She said triumphantly.

Now, to be honest, I hadn't noticed the sound of the flies at all, but I sure did notice the noise produced by the fly swatter.

There is a verse in I Corinthians 13 that says "Charity suffers long and is kind..." 

Maybe I was being long suffering as I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but probably not.  The loving thing to do would have been to arise and help my wife wage war on the house flies.

I suppose there are times that loving thing is just to do nothing, but far more often the loving thing to do is to try to meet the seen need.  Even such a need as trying to kill house flies on a sleep Saturday evening.