A Greatful Heart

 March 16, 2023

Today’s gratitude calendar suggested “three hard eucharistos,” in other words, three gifts from God that may be hard to accept. I’m not going to say much tonight, just enough to give thanks for the challenges. I’m glad to have a few, but also grateful they aren’t life-threatening. I am not living in North Korea, Iran, Kenya, or the Ukraine. My life isn’t threatened by war, starvation, religious or political radicals. That might change someday, but right now, I have it pretty easy.

Today did have a bit of an unexpected turn, however. Last night I had chest pains. I’ve had them before—a dull ache that stretches across the top of my chest if I had been slouching while reading. When I would lie down to sleep, they would come in waves, but standing up and walking around has always taken care of it. 

Last night, Linda was sitting beside me wide awake when it happened. The right side of my jaw and right temple also joined in the fun. Just letting it slide wasn’t an option, so I was told, so I logged into my GP’s portal and ended up with a “suggestion” that I go to the ER for an EEG or whatever they call it when they wire you to a machine. The better part of a day in the ER, and I was sent home with a clean bill of health, but also with instructions to show up next week for a stress test. I think it is nothing more than heartburn. Past experience tells me if I drop between five and ten pounds, all will be well.

So tonight, I am grateful for a wife who loves me enough to insist I get checked out, for the doctors and nurses who did a great job on me, for the technology that showed what was and wasn’t going on inside my body, and for the health I have been given for 73 years. I feel fine, and expect to get a clean bill next week, thanks be to God, who heals me in the name of Jesus Christ. TOnight I have a healthy and grateful heart.