No Pressure!

We had a health fair this afternoon at Westbury Christian School, put on by our Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) organization. There were a number of booths and it was a big success, especially for our initial effort. Visitors, mostly our own students and families from what I could tell, were offered no cost hearing evaluations, the chance to give blood, and free EKGs, a huge blessing to athletes in the middle and high school age range. There were other services offered, including the one that interested me most, blood pressure readings. You see, several years ago, twice I had high readings when I went for dental work. There were extenuating circumstances involved. My appointments began at 6:45 AM after I had a swimming workout and had consumed several cups of strong coffee. I never did any follow up and lived with the nagging fear that there might be a health issue. Until today.

The gentleman manning the blood pressure table was a health care specialist AND the father of Bria, one of my all-time favorite students. As he prepared the equipment for my right arm, I told him what I told you in the previous paragraph. He told me that several things can make your readings spike; eating, chewing gum, and especially trips to the doctor or the dentist. Of course, I immediately spit my gum out and he finished the very short procedure. The diagnosis? No problem- my blood pressure is excellent! Medical privacy laws prevent me from disclosing my exact reading but needless to stay, a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, even if I had ignored it since about 2013 or so.

I walked away from the testing feeling much better, maybe not physically as much as emotionally. I felt so good I walked into our adjoining gym and watched the aforementioned Bria playing for our JV girls' basketball team versus a home school squad. You know, in reflecting, I had assumed my blood pressure level was probably normal; I bypassed those little monitoring machines in WAL-MART and never got around to going to the doctor. My lifestyle is healthy in regards to diet and I work out religiously so I wanted to believe my risk was small. Still, every so often the thought would go through my mind that maybe I should have it checked. Perhaps I should pay attention more to what the gray matter is trying to get through my thick skull.

I read the scriptures every day as part of a plan to read the Bible in one year. The format is that each of the 365 sections has part of the Old Testament, part of the New Testament, a Psalm, and quotations from Proverbs. While the theme of patience is weaved through the sixty-six books, so is the concept of not putting things off. Pay your debts, make things right, confess your sins, and even confront if the situation calls for it. Procrastinating is never a virtue. There are times we don't want to find out the truth because we fear what it is and where it might lead but the truth isn't going to change with delay and it never has, going back to the Garden of Eden. So, tonight, I'll fall asleep effortlessly as I always do with the help of one melatonin tablet and wake up tomorrow, hoping to make the world just a little bit better place. It seems I'll have even more reason to rejoice than when I woke up this morning. The pressure has abated.

Applicable quote of the day:
One way to get high blood pressure is to go mountain climbing over molehills. 
Earl Wilson

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleyooks.com