Column by Dr. Ann Hollingsworth
Health care has consumed our lives. We stress over the fear of illness and then if we do get ill or even have a sniffle, we encounter the chaos and headaches of hospitals, clinics, and medical professionals to discover that they can only put a band-aid on the problem and not cure it. A major concern in personal finances is that we have enough money to endure being sick if that happens.
When God put Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden after they disobeyed Him and ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil - that included working the soil to produce food and pain in childbirth for Eve. God did not punish them by giving them illness. Illness is usually man-made through our lack of taking care of ourselves.
Even though we have weeds that may not have been in the garden of Eden, God’s creation is full of things to help us get and stay healthy outside the hallowed halls of health care. Living in a rural, agricultural-leaning environment gives us most of those freely every day. Sunshine gives us natural vitamin D which helps us build bones and teeth and have better immunity. The air we breathe is mostly pollution free. Closeness to nature gives us less stress and better stress-management support when we do have it.
One of the biggest benefits of the natural healing around us is the presence of so many “weeds” that have healing qualities with them. An example is Dandelion – it is a good diuretic and has quite a few vitamins and minerals. Garlic helps to lower cholesterol. Red clover may not be good for horses, but for humans, it is a good “nerve pill.” If we would but learn what they are and do, God has given us the best drug store right in our back yards.
We may choose to let the god of health care run our lives, but we don’t have to. There is still much healing all around us that can keep us healthy in mind, body, and spirit by trusting in the Great Physician instead of the man-made way.
