Holiness requires a comprehensive approach to life

A reader sent me the following article dealing with health and wellness. Since holiness involves a comprehensive approach to life, I have introduced each section with a quotation from the Bible.

Health. “Health and fitness are better than any gold, and a robust body than countless riches. There is no wealth better than health of body, and no gladness above joy of heart.”

(Sirach 30:15-16)

• Drink plenty of water.

• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants rather than those that are processed.

• Live with the three E’s: Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.

• Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.

• Take time to play.

• Read more books than you did last year.

• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

• Sleep for at least seven hours.

• Take a 10-30 minute walk every day, and while you walk, smile.

Personal Development. Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

(Matthew 6:26)

• Don’t compare yourself with others. You do not know the difficulties they face on their journey.

• Don’t think negative thoughts. Invest your positive energy in the present moment.

• Don’t become a workaholic. Know your limits.

• Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

• Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

• Dream more while you are awake.

• Envy is a waste of time. Look at your own God-given gifts.

• Forget the hurts of the past. Don’t bring up your partner’s past mistakes. That will ruin your present happiness.

• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Hate is foreign to God.

• Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

• Only you and no one else are responsible for your happiness.

• Life is a school and you are here to learn. Mistakes and problems are simply part of the curriculum. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. This is how we learn.

• Smile and laugh more.

• You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Family and Society. “Whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim. 5:8)

• Call your family often.

• Each day give something good to others.

• Forgive everyone for everything.

• Spend time with people who are 70 or older and under the age of six.

• Try to make at least three people smile each day.

• What other people think of you is none of your business.

• Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Spiritual Life. “God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

(Micah 6:8)

• Do the right thing.

• Rid yourself of anything that is not useful, beautiful, joyful or of God.

• Remember, God heals everything.

• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

• God has revealed to us that the best is yet to come.

• When you wake up alive in the morning, thank God.

• Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God. Radiate your joy.