My Introduction to Chiropractic Care

^{Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years."}

Genesis 6:3 (NRSV)

We met our chiropractor by chance one day at a health fair at which we were both vendors. (That was back when I still thought that with having the best products, those for which I had searched and ultimately found, could translate easily into sales. Any income was meant to support my writing life—a passion from which I have no expectations of making a living.)

We exchanged ideas and each completed the assessment presented by the other. Stewart Family Chiropractic was using space certified technology—developed by NASA for use on the international space station—technology I trusted and for which I already had much respect. (Not only did I use and represent other forms of space certified technology myself, but also, I have fond memories of the time when my father worked on developing the computers for the Apollo rockets…way back when.)

I knew my scan would look good. After all, I was in excellent health, save for a couple of unexplainable random symptoms here and there. So, when the resulting printout showed large red lines beside four vertebrae near the top of my spine, I understood that something was wrong, and was concerned enough to make my first visit to a chiropractor’s office. Now, I’ve had friends over the years that swore by their chiropractors, but I had no occasion to pursue alternative healing methods when my insurance covered all my Western medical care with just a $5.00 co-pay. The rationale was, I believe, much like that I used when shopping at grocery stores over farmer’s markets. The known required no thought or extra time or money, so why bother?

I have learned so much since then.

At the office for an introductory workup, I met an office filled with beautiful, gentle souls who truly desired to serve others in achieving good health. (My desires were the same, but when tied to products or services that could involve any financial benefit to me…a counter-productive voice within my head berated me for attempting to sell something for my own profit.)

Their Christian perspective was out and proud, another aspect that appealed to me now.

Following the workup came an introductory class explaining chiropractic care to a group of potentially new patients. I liked what I heard. Messages such as God created us all to live 120 years in good health resonated with me. As one who subscribes to the axiom “food is medicine,” this rationale worked. After all, God created the Earth and all creatures and, presumably, gave us all the necessary tools to survive and thrive. We’re the ones that make a mess of those gifts.

Stewart Family Chiropractic aims to serve and assist in healing many people, over and above making money. To do this, they participate in a program with Chiropractic Lifecare of America, LLC, which—when patients purchase annual memberships with that company—enables Stewart Family Chiropractic to legally lower their per-visit rates to 3/5ths that charged for regular adjustments. (I gather there’s an industry standard for the area that sets the minimum rate.) Whatever, in my economically-challenged circumstance of being both underemployed and uninsured for chiropractic care, the membership option simply made sense.

I cannot recommend them highly enough. Visit GoStewartHealth.com. Tell them you were referred by me and you can get a free scan for yourself. Check it out!

Love One Another

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another."

John 13:34 (NRSV)

This morning’s sermon at North Nashville’s Metropolitan Interdenominational Church, titled How’s your Love Life?, challenged the congregation to follow Jesus’ new commandment. The Senior Servant reminded us that this verse appears between a passage about betrayal and one about denial, and he spoke of Christ’s love as being pure. Both the Word and my pastor’s words reminded me of my human frailty, of my inability to love all wholly and unconditionally. It’s not for want of trying, but in every phase of life I’ve been faced with one individual or another whose presence and demeanor, perhaps the way he or she conducted him- or herself around me, left me feeling judgmental—and righteous in that judgement, even though none of us is fit to judge the other. In recent years, sometimes when I’ve wrestled with this aspect of my personality, I’ve discussed it with my mother-in-law—a very wise woman from Memphis, Tennessee, who has seen more in her lifetime that I might hope ever to see. “We all as filthy rags,” she tells me. “It’s in the bible. None of us is fit to judge.” When stumbling over judgmental feelings, I frequently hold her up before myself as an example of how to live, and then I strive to be better.

In church today, our pastor—home after a week of appearances and activities at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session focused on drug policy (Metropolitan Church’s interest being the ways in which drug policies influence the rates of HIV infection)—left us with three points to consider, all central to his work during this past week. (1) Do no harm. Although a given in harm reduction work, policy makers often lose sight of this principle in favor of appeasing constituents and appearing tough on crime. (2) Glorify the Lord. As a tireless faith leader, our pastor gently yet firmly reminds policy makers and others of what is right in the eyes of the Lord. (3) Love radically. That’s a hard one. As a radically-inclusive congregation we seek to be “inclusive of all and alienating to none,” and we are an interesting mix of humanity. While I can welcome you, or anyone, into the church—it’s outside, in my own life, that I stumble.

Lord, give me the strength and discernment to love more fully, more purely, than my human heart would have me love. Amen.

Rejoice

This is the day the Lord has made, 

let us rejoice and be glad in it.   

Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

 

In my experience, the words “the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” are so uplifting that the phrase has the power to reframe my outlook from glum to joyful. One of the older women in my life—an octogenarian who has a quarter-century on me—and I spent much time together last fall and winter; for the purposes of this entry, I’ll call her Mabel. Now, Mabel loved to sit out on the porch, or even indoors next to a window, and look out over God’s creation. We shared an awe of the natural world, of the fabulous creations before us. Even lying in bed with little visible to her, Mabel would notice and comment on the wind wafting through branches outside the bedroom window. But, Mabel had some aggravating aches and pains, and a bucketful of terrors left over from horrendous experiences decades ago that continued to haunt her. Some days she would be profoundly depressed and would wish aloud for the Lord to take her home. On those days, I tried to draw her attention to some aspect of the natural world—the sky or clouds therein, busy wildlife, greenery—and gently remind her, “This is the day the Lord has made— “ and she would invariably complete the verse for me, “let us rejoice and be glad in it.” After that, she would accept my invitation to enjoy the creation surrounding us.  Now that I do not see her as frequently, I miss sitting with one who was willing to marvel at a leaf with me. I miss sharing the beauty of allowing God to feed my soul through His gifts.

Song of Silence, book review

Ruchti, Cynthia. Song of Silence. Abingdon Press, 2016. 320 pages. Hardcover $24.99, 978-1501816376.  Trade paper $14.99, 978-142-679-1499. Kindle $10.49, B016DZ3S68.

A symphony of language, emotion and movement, Cynthia Ruchti’s Song of Silence is a must-read title due out in April, 2016. Lucy Tuttle has devoted her life’s work to the children’s music program started by her father at the Willowcrest School, a small K-8 public school, and is devastated when budget cuts eliminate the town’s art and music programs. Still in her late fifties, Lucy is not ready to join her devoted husband, Charlie, in retirement—a venture he entered early and with which he is content—but job opportunities are scarce. Empty-nesters at loose ends until the RIF brings Lucy home full time, Lucy is not ready when Charlie wants to involve her in his new adventure in vermiculture. An endearingly annoying character, Charlie is devoted to his marriage to “LucyMyLight” and is clueless as to how a surprise retirement party might not be the best after-school activity he could plan for her just now. Encouraged to seek counseling, Lucy works with a wise woman weathering her own transitions and is lead to the HHATT book group, whose members support her as she struggles with questions of faith and self-worth through job loss, living with Charlie, learning of her son's impending marriage to a woman they have yet to meet and of her daughter's unexpected love interest. When an accident severely damages her vocal chords, God’s grace and mercy shepherd Lucy and her family as each member enters a new phase of life. Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging, Song of Silence is a gift for readers that belongs on library shelves, in book groups and gift-wrapped packages and on wise women’s lists of Christian fiction waiting to be read. 

Full disclosure: I received a free, advance reading copy of this book from Abingdon Press in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Faith is a Journey

Photo by Bri'Anca Jordan

Accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior came late in my life. Although I was raised in a church it was a Unitarian church and we spoke of one God. The church was walking distance from our house, we did not even think of driving the few blocks. Being good neighbors and stewards of the earth, we always picked up any litter we found along the way. Our church was located next to our branch library and the first elementary school my sister and I attended. A large Catholic church was located practically across the street from the library, but in our household the trinity was a foreign concept. It remained foreign throughout the first half-century of my life.

The town where I was raised seemed to be predominantly Catholic and Jewish, or at least those were the kids easiest to identify because either they attended CCD classes and got confirmed at some point or they attended Hebrew School and had a bar or bat mitzvah celebration. For my sister and me, Sunday School was held on Sunday mornings for the little kids, and when we got older we graduated to choir practice on Thursday afternoons and then attended the adult worship services on Sundays (sitting in the choir loft, of course). As an adult I drifted away from church and organized religion, and for some years even away from God. But upon moving to the heart of the Bible Belt, on land that is truly in God's country, I could no longer deny the existence of a divine creator and I welcomed God back into my heart. What a relief!

These days I belong to an Interdenominational church located in Nashville, Tennessee. I attend fellowship suppers and Bible Study classes on Wednesdays and worship services on Sundays. We live about an hour away from the church, and for this reason I do not participate in Saturday activities including choir practice. When we first joined, I regretted that joining the choir would involve such inconvenience; now, I am content to sing along with the congregation. (Blessedly this congregation is light years away from the rigid New England traditions in which I was raised, wherein the congregation sat still and quiet, rising only to sing hymns on cue. At Metropolitan, congregants sing or speak whenever the Spirit moves us.)

Whenever becoming acquainted with a new culture or hobby, I have always turned to literature, in particular--fiction. When establishing a hobby farm a few years back, I relied on nonfiction; however, I had spent enough of my formative years soaking in the wisdom of such authors as James Herriott and Mary O'Hara that the culture of farm life was familiar. Similarly, as I came to Christianity, I devoured the authors of Christian Fiction that line the shelves of my local library before discovering the Cokesbury store in downtown Nashville.

Today I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and converse regularly with God. In recent years I have also accepted responsibility for stewardship of my body as well as the earth. A decade ago, I was an unbeliever surviving on the Standard American Diet (which, admittedly, is S.A.D.), passionately teaching middle school English in a Boston suburb. Now I am blessed to be living on a rolling hillside in Middle Tennessee where the majority of my neighbors are bovine, where instead of pets we have livestock, and where we can eat locally and know the source of much of our food. My primary food incorporates spirituality, relationships, career and physical activity. What goes into my mouth is but secondary food. (And it is generally far more healthful than in years past.) For this outlook, I thank the teachings of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.

Welcome to the Faithful in Health blog where I imagine we'll be covering topics related to health (human and environmental), natural living, faith, contemporary literature and well being. I am glad to be beginning this journey with you.

Blessings.