The Fountain of Youth
Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Ps. 103:5, NIV.
For hundreds of years humanity has dreamed of finding a “fountain of youth” whose healing waters would make the old young, cure disease, and prolong life. I’d like to propose that we have found the elusive fountain of youth but haven’t realized it. One important secret to longevity lies in protecting and maintaining a healthy immune system.
We have more control over it than medical science previously realized. The Creator has built into the body tremendous capacity for maintaining and restoring health. Therefore, good habits maintained and bad habits discarded may help us discover the legendary fountain of youth.
You should know that during the next 24 hours you will probably get cancer! The wildly growing cells we know as cancer develop frequently in the body, perhaps even several times a day. A healthy immune system detects and eliminates the cancer cells before we have a chance to know they’re present.
Other areas of disease in which the immune system plays a role include infections, certain types of autoimmune diseases including arthritis and lupus, and the major killers: heart attack and stroke.
The good news is that you can choose to have a healthy immune system. Exercise regularly (a minimum of 20 minutes every other day), eat a balanced diet (avoid the high fat and protein of animal products), get seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and be optimistic and laugh a lot. And avoid the damaging effects on the immune system of obesity, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other “street drugs,” as well as unbridled stress and negative emotions.
Solomon may not have been an immunologist, but his statement in Proverbs 17:22-“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones”-shows great insight into the immune system, a major portion of which originates in the bone marrow. Science confirms that a merry heart does good, probably better than a medicine, while a broken spirit damages the bone marrow (immune system).
If you make healthy choices daily, avoid harmful substances, and keep a song in your heart, you may have taken a big step toward discovering your own fountain of youth.
Dear Creator, thank you for my immune system. May I determine to make healthy choices to keep it strong and vigilant. Amen.
For hundreds of years humanity has dreamed of finding a “fountain of youth” whose healing waters would make the old young, cure disease, and prolong life. I’d like to propose that we have found the elusive fountain of youth but haven’t realized it. One important secret to longevity lies in protecting and maintaining a healthy immune system.
We have more control over it than medical science previously realized. The Creator has built into the body tremendous capacity for maintaining and restoring health. Therefore, good habits maintained and bad habits discarded may help us discover the legendary fountain of youth.
You should know that during the next 24 hours you will probably get cancer! The wildly growing cells we know as cancer develop frequently in the body, perhaps even several times a day. A healthy immune system detects and eliminates the cancer cells before we have a chance to know they’re present.
Other areas of disease in which the immune system plays a role include infections, certain types of autoimmune diseases including arthritis and lupus, and the major killers: heart attack and stroke.
The good news is that you can choose to have a healthy immune system. Exercise regularly (a minimum of 20 minutes every other day), eat a balanced diet (avoid the high fat and protein of animal products), get seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and be optimistic and laugh a lot. And avoid the damaging effects on the immune system of obesity, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other “street drugs,” as well as unbridled stress and negative emotions.
Solomon may not have been an immunologist, but his statement in Proverbs 17:22-“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones”-shows great insight into the immune system, a major portion of which originates in the bone marrow. Science confirms that a merry heart does good, probably better than a medicine, while a broken spirit damages the bone marrow (immune system).
If you make healthy choices daily, avoid harmful substances, and keep a song in your heart, you may have taken a big step toward discovering your own fountain of youth.
Dear Creator, thank you for my immune system. May I determine to make healthy choices to keep it strong and vigilant. Amen.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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