Sunscreen, Insect Repellent, and Plenty of Water
“Above all else, guard your heart” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV).
The medical community is more informed about the dangers of sun damage, heat stroke, dehydration, and bug bites than even a few years ago. The flip-sides of summer’s fun have a whole new batch of ointments, lotions, and cures.
In 1985, when a strange series of symptoms began attacking every system of my body, I hadn’t heard of Lyme Disease, much less knew how to watch for, treat, or prevent it.
The same was true for many of my doctors. I saw eight of them over the course of eighteen months while I suffered compounding symptoms before one specialist finally landed on the sentence that would inch me toward healing.
“Could you have been bitten by a tick?”
By then, the spirochete from the tick had lived in my body so long, it took many courses of antibiotics and experimental cancer drugs to knock it down enough so my body could begin to recover. A slow, excruciating process.
It would have been so simple if we’d caught it early.
Summer offers other dangers that fit that “it would have been so simple” profile. When relaxation turns to laziness. When dedication to Bible study and prayer takes a dangerous summer vacation. When diligence to keep entertainment choices uplifting and meaningful lets down its guard because of a relaxed summer schedule.
It will be so much simpler to stay spiritually healthy this summer if you catch a bad habit early and apply whatever treatment is necessary to help you stay on track.
With compassion for those enduring physical, spiritual, emotional, or relational pain, Cynthia Ruchti writes stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark. Recent releases: When the Morning Glory Blooms (Abingdon Press Fiction, three different eras of aftershocks from unwed pregnancy) and Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices (Abingdon Press Christian Living). www.cynthiaruchti.com
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