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Added 2024-05-27 11:00:03 +0000 UTCGood morning!
Are you familiar with the Blue Zone and wellness?
People over the age of 100 who are living active, healthy lives have been studied and they have certain common lifestyles: they move, they mostly eat plant-based, they are in community, and have spirituality. Although they come from different countries, they have this basic similarity.
I attended a Wellness Conference some weeks ago. My employer offers it every other year and this was the first year I attended. One of the speakers was an MD and JD and spoke about the Blue Zone and wellness.
He definitely lives as he believes! He demonstrated handstands and pushups and squats to an active audience of MD, PA, NPs and nurses. But the thing that penetrated my heart and soul was when he spoke of how in his depression during Law School, Christ met him in the darkness and set him free. No one else knew the depth of his pain but when he discovered what he was missing, his whole life turned around.
He spoke of this in the context of the spirituality that is found in the Blue Zone people. As he lives, he finds ways to sprinkle in his real life testimony. What an impact!
At the end of that day, we all had the option to participate in an activity: yoga, kickboxing or a walk by the ocean. Ocean always wins for me, plus I wanted an opportunity to talk, if possible, to the doctor in charge of the conference. I had known her years ago and she was the first person to discover I was pregnant with our 21-year-old daughter!
As we walked as a group, I did have a chance to talk to the doctor who was always so easy to approach in all my years as a PA. I also noticed that the Blue Zone speaker was on the walk with all of us, but surrounded by a crowd. I said a silent prayer that I might have an opportunity to talk to him.
Suddenly, he was walking next to me and the rest of the group was behind. I said how much his testimony impacted me and that I loved how he naturally included it in his lecture. He was the most joyful, energetic yet calm, listener and communicator. His zest for life was contagious and he gives the credit to Christ.
I hope that as we go about life, in our day to day lives, we don’t hold back on the joy of the Lord. We don’t have to make special provisions to be missionaries. We just have to go wherever the Lord leads each day and listen, live and connect to those people around us. We just never know when another life will be touched by Christ and pulled out of a pit of depression, anxiety, fear or hopelessness!
For in him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28
Comments
Love this story and the enthusiasm that you expressed in it. Diet and exercise is extremely important but I agree with the fact that our connection in community and with the natural world around us is probably almost as important. I grew up in a place that was very close knit, very hard working fishermen and hunters. No one was wealthy, we all ate local produce, fish we caught and game we hunted. Everyone was healthy and generally lived a long life. We valued the stories of our elders and faith in Christ was common. I wish we could still live like that.
Jimjam the truth man
2024-05-27 15:14:42 +0000 UTCOh! Well I guess it is safe to say I won’t live to be 100. I can’t claim those traits. I give you credit for recommending the plant based, but I’m going to enjoy my poultry 😀. It is nice to hear your prayer was answered so the speaker would eventually cross paths with you. You share this story in a human, yet child-like sense of glee. You chose wisely by moving near the ocean. I guess one of my takeaways here is to move more and move with the Lord while moving more. It’s funny, I frequently reflect on the hunter gatherers, who did not have distractions that pulled them away from their closeness to their God. Things were so much easier. They moved in groups, lived off of the land, told stories, and worshiped. Thanks for sharing this story, Jennie.
Maurice
2024-05-27 11:36:46 +0000 UTC
