A recent post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog featured this little quote – “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” (Voltaire)
Medicine has evolved a lot since Voltaire’s time, but that aspect hasn’t changed. If Voltaire was alive to comment on modern medicine his quote might read – “The art of medicine consists of drugging the patient while nature cures the disease.” Modern 
medicine seems to be focused more upon relief of symptoms than actual healing. Whatever you have, there’s a pill for that, or at least a pill to make you feel better while it runs its course. Nature still takes care of that over time.
Admittedly, there have been dramatic improvements in the surgery aspect of modern medicine. Now when something wears out it can be replaced, either by a man-made option or a transplant from someone usually less fortunate than the receiver of the transplant. It is even possible today to print a new things to put into you, using recently developed 3d printing techniques.
One thing that remains a problem is that going to hospital can be the most dangerous option for many. Too many people still die in the hospital from diseases or infections that they get there that they would not have contracted at home. In the Civil War many more Union soldiers died in the field hospitals from infections than dies from the actual gun shots that put them there – the result of infections from reused and non-disinfected bandages. In the modern hospital it is most often the result of bad hygiene practices by the staff that allows bacteria and viruses to spread freely in the facilities.
I will also admit that the preventive medicine side of thing has gotten much better, with vaccines being responsible for just about wiping out certain diseases from Voltaire’s time. With all of that research and money spent on vaccines, the common cold virus still seems to have the upper hand. Bacteria and viruses also have evolved over time and we hear now about antibiotic resistant strains that may eventually win out in their war against humanity.
Perhaps we should all be content to amuse ourselves and let nature figure out a cure for
what ails us. That certainly beats the opioid option that modern medicine has come up with as a solution. From time to time we see studies that indicate the power of prayer in “miraculous” recoveries from some disease or condition. Perhaps it is the power of that prayer to encourage us to persevere while nature works its cure. Just sayin’ that there’s nothing wrong with prayin’.
Have a wonderful and healthy weekend ahead.
Posted by Norm Werner 
like that where you feel like turning to God and saying, “A little help here, God.”
So start today and every day by awakening the power of God in your life and you will be able to approach the day like the kids in 
what it is that they believe in. It is comforting in those times to have a strong belief in God. Not understanding why things happen can be unsettling. It can cause confusion and anxiety. It can lead to hopelessness and depression. Being able to say to yourself, “I do not have to understand the ‘why?’ of everything. I just need to believe in God and accept His plans for me.”
ans will return to my normal focus on faith-based inspirational messages with my next post. One cannot ignore the crumbling infrastructure all around and not see the root causes of that deterioration.
novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
So, who are you now? What have you done with the experiences of your past? Did you learn from them? Were you able to forgive, if that was necessary? Are you able to put the praises for your successes in the proper perspective, so that they don’t delude you into thoughts of entitlement? Are you able to turn your experiences into knowledge and wisdom? Who are you now? Are you comfortable with who you have become?
to build your life than a strong belief in God. If you start with a strong, unwavering faith in God, you are free to build the character upon that faith that will serve you well in life. You will be able to absorb the defeats, disappointments or sorrows that life might through at you. You will be able to humbly accept the successes that you have in life as God’s gifts to you and not of your own making. You will be well grounded. You will always know who you are and in what direction you are headed.
The death and resurrection of Christ is the defining event in the Christian faith and I thought that if one believes in that event, i.e. if that is the foundation of one’s faith; then that belief should remove the fear of death. The next thought I had was one of wondering what someone has who has no faith? If you cannot find hope and comfort in the belief of life after death, then what do you have. Nothing? It’s no wonder those without faith fear death.
death and turn our attention to the joyous celebration of his resurrection. That is how we overcome our fear of death. Life after death may still be a great unknown for us, but we believe in it and look forward to the promise of “a peace that surpasses all understanding”.
It occurred to me that the same thing applies to looking at people. Too often we look at someone without seeing them. We see a color or we see a hairstyle or we see a different way of dressing and we quickly look away without actually “seeing” the person that is there. There’s an old saying, “What you see is what you get”; but that saying requires that you actually see and not just look.
have to talk to them to “see” who they are. How many of us would have seen the genius in front of us if we just looked at Stephan Hawking sitting in his wheelchair? How many times have we looked at a special needs child and quickly looked away without seeing the real person that was there? Do we see and understand the person sitting on the corner begging for our help or just look at the bedraggled person there and turn away with a sense of pity and guilt.
somewhere in the world caused enough change in the movement of the atmosphere to cause minute changes to the weather patterns in the entire world. If you’ve ever wondered why it may be raining across the street, but not on your house, perhaps it was a butterfly somewhere in Asia that was flapping it’s wings that caused that weather pattern. At least it’s more fun to think of that butterfly flapping away in Asia than dwelling on the fact that it may be raining.
certainly guilty of procrastination about exercise. When the gym that I was going to closed, I told myself that I’d join another gym and get back to regular exercise. I’m still telling myself that. I’ve been looking at it as a big decision, when in reality there was a small decision that I could have made to do a little exercise at home each day, until I found a new gym. It’s time to make that small decision and change my life. Time for some home burpees.
Reconnect with God each morning and put your trust in what He has in store for your life today. I use the little prayer that I’ve posted here many times – “Not my will, but Thy will be done”. You will find that you start each day with a new attitude when you take that moment to reconnect and reassure yourself that God is with you. That new attitude and the aura of God working through you will carry over into the decisions that you make that day, which can’t help but change your life and the world around you. You will become God’s “butterfly effect” on the world.
predisposition in our minds about them/it and how to react to the encounter. Sometimes, those predispositions may be strong and well as wrong and have turned into unfounded prejudices. Many times it may just be a feeling of unease or fear, if we have little or no experiences upon which to fora more positive reaction.
Some people really don’t have a mind that is open to change, no matter what evidence is presented that a long held conviction is wrong. They have locked their brains tightly into a reality that is theirs alone and they “see” the world from within that realm. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case in Washington these days, as the politicians there become more and more polarized. One certainly doesn’t see a lot of open minds there, just a lot of brainless behavior.
idea may well displace old ideas that you now know were not completely right or which no longer fit for you. New people in your life may replace old friends who no longer share your values or whose position on things is no longer aligned with yours. Life happens and you move on.
ted elsewhere across the country, there was a lot of confusion and very mixed support for the Walk Out within the administrations of the various schools, even within our local school district. Some teachers and administrators supported the Walk Out, while others warned students not to participate for fear of consequences later. In general, the students who spoke at this round table were disappointed in the lack of a consistent message from the adults involved and vowed to do a better job themselves next time (and they were clear that there will be a next time).
that this has to stop, that schools need to be a safe place of learning and not a place where “shelter in place” and “active shooter” exercises are the norm. I hope that the children will continue to make noise, continue to walk out and protest the mess that the cowardly politicians in Washington cannot seem to take fix. There is no place in the woods for a hunter to use an assault weapon and there should be no place in our nation’s classrooms for them either. Had they foreseen the future, I’m sure our nation’s founders would not have included in the Constitution that every citizen has the right to bear a machine gun or assault rifle.
NormsMilfordBlog 