When doctors candidly talk about the types of ailments and symptoms they see on a regular basis, they note the chronic nature of many illnesses and the disturbing number of preventable disease events that they confront. At the same time, there is the stark reality that when patients present themselves demanding help for their suffering, they want something to change the immediate circumstances.
Far too often, physicians are forced to enter into a kind of further debilitating co-dependent role as they treat symptoms at the expense of sustaining the behaviors and actions that prompted the “disease” in the first place.
It is a frequently accepted social pattern to serve and drink alcoholic beverages.
To do so is done with frequent attentiveness to the variety of colorful and sophisticated nuances of taste and selections offered by a seemingly endless variety of delightfully displayed and well-articulated options by which one can “enjoy” the effects of such intoxicants. But there is a reality to be faced. Alcohol is toxic to the body. It can serve as a disinfectant. At its best it serves in primitive fashion as a painkiller and may appropriately be given to the dying for such purposes. At the same time, to portray the results of alcoholism on the stage of life is to see disease, dysfunction, despair, disability, and endless episodes of vomiting, disorientation, boisterous and destructive behaviors, a pattern of social and societal disengagement created by a foreign substance entering the human body and attacking it with a vengeance.
Many today utilize this socially accepted and readily available toxin to treat their “dis-ease.” Many very real and treatable physical conditions are often “self-medicated” by individuals who go to the nearest source of cheap “pain relief.” Others have come to a pattern of self-destruction by the yearning for acceptance that drove them to act and adopt patterns that were assumed to be socially enhancing to their lives. All the while…not recognizing the socially debilitating effects of their actions, and equally physically debilitating results.
Perhaps it isn’t until you have attended the funeral of a teenager who died of alcohol poisoning that such a message stands out in contrast to the 75 year old closet alcoholic whose wife bears the scars and emotional devastation of years behind closed doors of pain.
We have our ailments. We have our pain. We have our suffering. But the tragedy of our time is that we multiply our agonies by our actions and decisions that rather than helping, only create further problems. There is wisdom, born from above, that God extends to us through His Son Jesus Christ. It is the comprehension of a new life and a new way of living. It is a gift to be received in faith…it is recognition of our need to turn to God for our help and salvation. It is an understanding that what ails us most is a broken relationship with our creator and giver of life.
When that relationship is set right…the ailments and pains and diseases become matters with which we can deal redemptively, in ways that direct us to the healing and life sustaining provisions of God. I thank God for the wonderful gifts of physicians and surgeons and nurses and pharmacists and therapists of all kinds who work daily to alleviate the pains and suffering of those who are sick. What I also rejoice to see are those gifts of God’s giving that are used daily to promote healing and health through actions and choices that preempt needless suffering in the first place.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Summer Reading: Key to Progress
A host of voices have weighed in recently on the seemingly systemic problems associated with education. In the midst of pressing economic challenges, there are the statistics that point to a generational decline in literacy, a significant drop in science and mathematics Ph.D.’s in American universities and a significant indication of long-term social and economic distress linked to a dropout rate of U.S. high school students approaching 33%. Among minority populations that number can soar near 50%. When we factor in the realities of many children poorly supported in the summer months in regard to nutrition and active learning engagements, we see factors that exacerbate these problems.
One of the most interesting rays of hope in the midst of these realities lies in those communities and among those whose attention has been focused upon reading. For many children the availability of books has opened new vistas of learning and growth. It has been shown that when students, even those in economically disadvantaged circumstances, can have access to a steady supply of quality reading resources: whether at church, public libraries, through book mobiles, in community learning centers, or in any number of venues that allow for exposure to interesting reading materials, they have shown excellent progress. Even the poorest of readers, when exposed to others reading to them, and pre-schoolers who have parents or family or community members reading to them, show positive outcomes from regular “story time” and “reading events.”
My challenge to our church community this summer is to serve as facilitators to the children and youth in your reach to diligently help them to have good reading opportunities this summer. There is nothing like a good book on a rainy summer afternoon to inspire the imagination and mental capacities of a young mind. If you need good suggestions for summer reading, check out the public library. When traveling, visit bookstores on a regular basis…they are such fun! Help your children to develop verbal skills as you invite them to talk to you about the books they are reading. Read them yourself and model good reading patterns. Unplug the television and “flood” your children with reading opportunities. If your child is struggling with reading…make sure they have age and skill appropriate materials…invite them to read out loud to you, and then help them with “hard” words. Keep a good dictionary handy and put a big poster board on the back of their bedroom door and let them keep a list of the books they read during the summer. Challenge them to see how many books they can read before school starts in the fall. Encourage them to include the number of pages read with each book.
Don’t forget to introduce some “classics” to older children, and don’t be surprised to find some young readers able to tackle some thick books. Every aspect of learning is tied to reading. Encourage it, help those who for whatever reasons are struggling readers and realize that often the real difference for many is having someone who helps. Start a child on an adventure in reading, and you may be engaging them for a lifetime of learning and growing.
One of the most interesting rays of hope in the midst of these realities lies in those communities and among those whose attention has been focused upon reading. For many children the availability of books has opened new vistas of learning and growth. It has been shown that when students, even those in economically disadvantaged circumstances, can have access to a steady supply of quality reading resources: whether at church, public libraries, through book mobiles, in community learning centers, or in any number of venues that allow for exposure to interesting reading materials, they have shown excellent progress. Even the poorest of readers, when exposed to others reading to them, and pre-schoolers who have parents or family or community members reading to them, show positive outcomes from regular “story time” and “reading events.”
My challenge to our church community this summer is to serve as facilitators to the children and youth in your reach to diligently help them to have good reading opportunities this summer. There is nothing like a good book on a rainy summer afternoon to inspire the imagination and mental capacities of a young mind. If you need good suggestions for summer reading, check out the public library. When traveling, visit bookstores on a regular basis…they are such fun! Help your children to develop verbal skills as you invite them to talk to you about the books they are reading. Read them yourself and model good reading patterns. Unplug the television and “flood” your children with reading opportunities. If your child is struggling with reading…make sure they have age and skill appropriate materials…invite them to read out loud to you, and then help them with “hard” words. Keep a good dictionary handy and put a big poster board on the back of their bedroom door and let them keep a list of the books they read during the summer. Challenge them to see how many books they can read before school starts in the fall. Encourage them to include the number of pages read with each book.
Don’t forget to introduce some “classics” to older children, and don’t be surprised to find some young readers able to tackle some thick books. Every aspect of learning is tied to reading. Encourage it, help those who for whatever reasons are struggling readers and realize that often the real difference for many is having someone who helps. Start a child on an adventure in reading, and you may be engaging them for a lifetime of learning and growing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)