With Christmas over and New Year approaching, my
mind returns to some of the memorable – and unmemorable! – New Years
celebrations from my childhood.
From as far back as I can remember until I was at
least a young teen, my uncle and his wife and daughter would always come
over on New Years Eve. My dad, especially, enjoyed this yearly tradition,
for it was one of the only times during the year that he was able to spend
time with his youngest brother and his family. My mom put a smile on her
face and went along with it all. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the company,
but it was a lot of work for her to host this little party every year. For
me, however, it was…HORRIBLE! You see, my uncle was a chain smoker, and in
those days it was impolite to ask someone to not smoke in your house. Though
this didn’t seem to bother my parents at all, it bothered me terrible
because I am allergic to cigarette smoke.
My mother was sensitive to my problem, and she
would excuse me from the primary happenings in the living room. “Go into the
bathroom,” she would say. “Take your toys and play with your cousin in
there!”
I would do that, and my cousin seemed happy enough
to join me, but the smoke still came in under the closed bathroom door…
And so it was, every New Years’ Eve, from 8 pm
until midnight… By the time midnight finally approached, I would be so sick
from the smoke that I wished I could run away. They would leave then, but
the cigarette smoke would linger in the apartment for days.
These horrible New Years’ Eve celebrations so
burned themselves so effectively in my mind that I determined that I would
never smoke; and that when I was old enough to live on my own, no one would
ever smoke in my home.
Of course now all of the health dangers from
smoking are well known and well documented. In many parts of the world
smoking in public places is completely banned. I love the Bible verse:
"Or do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from
God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God
in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV).
God heals our diseases,
yes (see
Ps. 103:3); but this doesn’t mean that
we should purposefully do things that we know could harm our health. Because
we are temples of God’s Spirit, we need to do our part in trying to eat
right, exercise, get enough sleep, practice stress management, spend time
with God, and avoid things that could be detrimental to our health such as
smoking, vaping, drugs and alcohol. Then we can trust God with the rest.
As New Year approaches, why not resolve to
practice better health habits this year? When you do, not only will you will
be taking steps to improve your own health; but you will also be making
things a lot better for those around you!
In His Love,
Rob Chaffart