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By Rita Bennett

For the Beacon

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Millions of Americans are abuzz about what the policy of our country should or will be concerning healthcare. Senior citizens are the ones most affected by the proposals, but those in their mid-life years are concerned too as they want to find the best plan for their parents.

Today as I was driving home from meeting with Andrea, my exercise trainer, I was feeling good. Yes, I got to my club to take care of my body today! I felt even better as I slowly drove down the steep hill on Main Street and my eyes scanned the evening sky.

The moon was crescent-shaped and bright in the south sky. Directly in front of me facing west were gray blue rays like sun streaks across the sky. It seemed they were rays from heaven reaching out to bless all the Edmonds community.

To the far north side were white fluffy banks of clouds. I chose to drive slowly and take time to look up and see the beauty around me. I was overwhelmed.

God wants us healthy. He wants us whole. The words holy, whole, and healthy surprisingly have meaning in common.

If one goes back to Middle and Old English language roots one will see that holy (halig), whole (hal) and health (haelth) have all descended from a common prototype. (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1979, p.523)

Holy simply stated is "set apart to the service of God."

Whole is "free of wound or injury."

Health is "the condition of being sound in body, mind, and spirit." (Ibid. p.358)

If you and I are dedicated to God and relating closely to Him, we are more likely to become holy, whole, and healthy.

TAKE CARE OF YOU!

There are some things a healthcare bill cannot do for the population. The government cannot take care of our bodies as only "we the people" can do that for ourselves.

It cannot call you up to see if you exercised today, if you made healthy choices in your diet, or chide you if you have begun to look pregnant from drinking too much beer. The government is not your sweet Uncle Sam but machinery, laws, guidelines, wisdom passed on for centuries to help our country function to the best of its ability.

The main concern in our nation at present has to do with the health and care of our bodies.

Though the inner part of our being is as important as the exterior, yet without a healthy body the life of our whole person is shortened.

HEALTH CONCERNS

I'm glad the recent healthcare bill has been slowed down so more people can read and discuss it. Though some leaders resist the idea, it is healthy for citizens to express themselves in Town Hall meetings across our land.

On Aug. 30 we had our own Edmonds Town Hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee.

In my grad school, a major part of our training as therapists was to learn to confront one another in class. At the same time, we were required to use fair rules of engagement.

Recently, online I was impressed to receive a physician's abbreviated outline of the present healthcare bill. We are told through the media that such bills are impossible to read and understand; yet some people have now taken the time and effort to do just that.

A HOLY CALLING

My brother Bill Reed is a cancer surgeon. In his recent newsletter "Progress Notes," he says:

To take care of fellow human beings and other needs was, and has continued to be a 'Holy Calling' and a most rewarding life of God-directed experiences. This has been an era of magnificent progress in medicine and surgery in phenomenal areas of therapeutic development in this last century. During my life as a physician, I have had the privilege of being involved in medicine and surgery across the world."

(Read more at www.EmotionallyFree.org.)

Let us to look to our Great Healing Physician, Christ the Lord, to guide us in the many important decisions facing our country. Get together with friends to pray that our government will make right decisions; for only God knows the right answers (Matthew 18:20).

"More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of." Alfred Tennyson.

(Local author Rita Bennett is CEO of the Edmonds-based Christian Renewal Association. She can be reached at (425) 775-2965 or at www.EmotionallyFree.org or ritabennett.cra@gte.net, or by writing her at P.O. Box 576, Edmonds, WA 98020.)