Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

• Matthew 5:34-36

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

• Matthew 6:25-27

May I confess to something?  I have been guilty of morphing these two analogies of Jesus into one.  I have said that it is quite easy to have black hair and worry that hair into turning gray or even white.  My wife had alopecia areata when we first moved to Germany during the Cold War.  The American Doctors were at a loss to explain why her hair was falling out in large clumps.  It was a contracted French doctor who diagnosed her and told her that her best course of action was to be like an American, rather than an immigrant from Holland to America.  Just don’t worry about it.

Actually the disease is related to an immune disorder, but worry makes it worse.  But my wife had been abused by the head of nursing at a hospital.  The Lieutenant Colonel was given a chance to have her record expunged if she took immediate retirement, but in the end, my wife was not allowed benefits for the PTSD that the abuse had caused.  What abuse?  The records were expunged.  Me going into the Army to fulfill my commitment brought all the abuse back to mind.  And she was only an officer’s wife.

I think military wives should get some sort of veteran benefits.

But the hair color change has to do with swearing by your own head.  That is stupid, but in the first century, people were afraid to swear by God, so they would swear by a city or a mountain or anything that might not go away any time soon, like the Jordan River.  In a pinch, they would swear by their own head.  Jesus said not to swear at all.  Just say yes or no.

The worry analogy is about adding an hour to your life.  Yeah, worry might shorten your life, but worry will not lengthen it.

But what brought this up?

I just got the results of a CT scan.  My liver is not as swollen as it was a year ago.  I think the kidney stones have either moved or gotten smaller – maybe breaking up and passing a little.  But then the scan found a gall stone and small, insignificant fatty deposits on the liver.

The gall stone might be causing some occasional pain, but it is manageable and no doctor has said anything thus far.

As far as the fatty liver is concerned, I have diabetes that is under control if the stress level is down.  It is not under control right now due to the stress of overcoming COVID, getting my health back to equilibrium, and the thought of having to move out of the house that I have occupied for thirty years.  The landlady wants me out.  In spite of her excuses, she wants to triple the rent.  Thirty years means she could make more money with a new lease agreement.

Being overweight also affects fatty liver.

So, fatty liver can accelerate a lot of diseases, like heart disease.

But, I choose to not worry about those things.  If the doctor worries, I will respect his thoughts.  I will try to make the changes in my lifestyle.

But this is clearly a case of worrying not adding an hour to my life, but worrying might shorten my life by years.  It is kind of a mind-over-matter thing, but really it is a faith thing.

God has me here to do His will.  I will not get one more day than what He desires from me.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.