This morning I put shorts on and when I went out to put a large load of washing on the line, I noticed my chubby knees peeking out below my shorts. After wishing there was slightly ‘less of them’, I marvelled at how for the last 30 years I have argued with my body shape, size and format!
You don’t have to go far to discover that about 80% of body shape is determined by genetics. I have often said, “I am my Mother’s child” meaning that I have got so many of my Mom’s features including the extra weight I carry. She was about 20kg heavier than I simply because she didn’t exercise, ate liberally and all wrong, smoked & drank for a couple of decades. She died at the age of 71 following metastatic breast cancer that spread to her liver and bones. When you know better, you do better. In her early days, smoking was in! In fact, I read one advert that said, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!” Sugary drinks were promoted as health tonics, with one advert saying, “For a better start in life start cola earlier.” Another calls coca cola “the ideal brain tonic!” That generation were sold lies and as a result they believed in a far less healthy lifestyle that promoted sugar and cigarette smoking,
Sooooo, what are my chances of living longer than my Mom? I went to a lifespan calculator and based on my family and my health & lifestyle history, it said I will live to 91. Wow! That’s 20 years longer than my Mom. Is that possible?
Only God knows.
Of course, no one can predict the future, but you can try and live a life that is healthy, based on what we know today.
- Exercise regularly.
- Eat healthy as natural as possible foods – with as little as possible sugar.
- Don’t smoke.
- Don’t drink.
- Don’t speed.
- Wear your seatbelt.
- Focus on what you have.
- Don’t compare yourself to others.
- Learn to accept yourself.
- Have faith in God (I read an interesting article on CNN that going to church could help you live longer!
As I approach the 13th anniversary of my Mom’s passing, I rue the fact that she has missed out on so much. She would be 84. Of course, heaven is her gain and what we think she missed out on, is actually hardly anything at all.
We can’t live on this earth for ever.
I believe in eternal life – that we come into this world for an allotted time – we can do our absolute best to stay on the planet for as long as possible, but eventually our end comes, whether it is aged 71, like my Mom, or 89, like Mike’s Mom. In the light of eternity, these numbers are very small. They are like the dot on a line around the world’s biggest stadium with all the rest of the line being eternal life. Life might throw up a lot of problems big and small, but in the end all will be well.
2 Corinthians 4:17
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So we need to enjoy each day, accept ourselves, enjoy ourselves, trust God for each breath of every day and know that the best is yet to come.
It’s a new day!
#174 of my 1000 thanks is for a large load of washing.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂