The cold and flu season that is- at
least around here. Two were sick in this
house a couple weeks ago, I was this past week- today is the first day I
haven’t lost my voice, and my son started again yesterday. Two of his friends are down, the neighbour
spent a day lookin’ in the toilet (know what I mean?), and so many other people
are battling illness right now. You know
it’s bad when you can’t find NeoCitran on the shelf in any store!
I am one of the most careful people when
sickness is in the house. Different hand
towels are employed, I use my sweater sleeves to open and close doors, Lysol
wipes and bleach to sanitize items used by the infirm, minimize physical
contact, etc. I can’t even remember the
last time I had a respiratory infection, cold or flu, but this time I couldn’t
stave it off. Tissue and hot drinks have
been my friends.
They say smiles are infectious and I
think it’s true because when you lovingly smile at someone, they usually smile
back. Laughter is also contagious. One time when my 7ish year old kids were laughing during a comedic play,
everyone started laughing because of their laughter! Kindness can be catching. It has been shown that areas where ‘random
acts of kindness’ has been successfully started, the result is people giving
the same kindnesses they received. I
guess there are some things that are good to catch!
Not so much when it comes to
sicknesses. Sickness usually makes us
miserable, feel bad, or both. We get
sick because our amazingly complex immune system (cells and proteins that
function together) failed to fight off foreign invaders (bacterial, parasitic,
fungal, viral infections, etc). Other
than being born immune deficient, here are some of the things that affect our
immune system:
-poor diet (that lack essential
nutrients) weakens our immunity
-chemical additives, pesticides, preservatives,
damage immune systems
-refined (white) sugar (and alcohol) reduces white blood
cell’s ability to kill germs
-without adequate sleep the immune system can’t
rebuild itself
-stress suppresses the immune system
-hydration is needed to work properly
-exercise increases blood flow and
removal of toxins/ waste
-medication/ drugs, radiation, bad
hygiene, weaken our immunity
It is much the same with our spiritual
immune systems. We are more able to
fight off depression, temptation, worldliness, immorality, laziness, lukewarmness,
hopelessness, fear and grief in the face of tribulation, etc if we build up our
immune systems by proper nutrition- the Bread of Life (Jh. 6:35), adequate
sleep- rest (Mt. 11:28), hydration of Living water (Jh. 4:14), and exercising
our spiritual gifts (1Cor. 12) in fellowship.
Also, we must avoid that which weakens our immunity such as selfishness,
offence, critical spirits, bitterness, sin- basically spending a majority of our
time outside of God’s will.
Anything
that builds one another up strengthens our immune system and anything that
tears one another down weakens our spiritual immunity. Instead of infecting one another with
weakness, let’s all decide to improve our immunity instead and pass on a
passion for the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another
and build one another up…
1Th 5:11
ESV