I’ve been trying to get all my medical exams and tests done in the first few months of this year, and it is an enormous interruption to fit it all in because of my already-full schedule. But since I’ve not had a breast exam or a Pap smear or a bone density test (not to mention blood work, etc.) for the last six or seven years, and since Medicare pays for that yearly examination, I really didn’t have any excuse not to proceed, especially since my doctors are all retiring. Consequently, I’ve also had to put together a new medical-personnel system.
My sister recommended a general physician. She gave me an exam, then recommended which tests I needed to make appointments for at the nearby hospital. Our office manager pulled the names of dentists who are open to new patients and also accept our Delta Dental insurance. I actually drove past their offices to see which I liked the best before I made a phone call. (At my age, dentists are a big deal—I have one molar missing and one that has broken in half.) And I signed up with a kinesiologist to begin examining the places where I was nutritionally or chemically imbalanced.
When the hospital outpatient office called again to inform me that they needed to retake one of the imaging photographs and that I needed to make an appointment for another mammogram, I was too busy to get upset about it. We have no history of breast cancer in our family, and frankly, I have other physical ailments that are of bigger concern to me (like my lack of sleep). Lots of friends have also been called back for repeat exams, with no negative results.
However, sitting in the waiting room of the “Breast Treatment Center” with six other women all wearing those ugly hospital gowns, then having to wait a little longer than I expected (“You know this could take up to two hours,” said the nurse at the counter. No, I hadn’t known that) made me realize that I was a little anxious.
The eventual conclusion was that the original photo had shown what they were calling a little tissue shadow—nothing at all to be worried about—and that I didn’t need to wait for a second opinion on the x-ray.
It was then that I felt how good it is to have good news. Often, many of us go through life with shoulders unknowingly clenched waiting for the bad news that doesn’t come (given a whole lifetime of living) more than it does come. Our papers and the Internet are filled with horrific stories of murders and human aberrations, fires and famines and floods—no wonder we all too often expect the worst.
Years ago, Oprah Winfrey made popular the random-acts-of-kindness movement. “Your toll has been paid by the gentleman in the car in front of you…” and other sorts of small considerations. It was actually a lovely idea.
However, what about another movement that encourages random good-news bearers? “Here’s some good news,” we could say to one another. “You do not have to replace your water heater.” “You have unexpected money coming to you from an unexpected source.” “You are healthier than you think you are.”
Would these kind of comments eventually help us unclench our clenched shoulders? Would we be able to see, with enough good news, that much of the universe is a benign and loving place created so we could enjoy and be at wonder about its glory?
How remarkable that the word “Gospel” means “the good news.” God looked into the long future of mankind’s historic passage and knew that this reality of good news would be imperative for our survival, for our fruitfulness, for our constant encouragement. Scriptures say that the apostles “went about preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God.”
So let us speak this word of power; let us look into our own personal lives and detect what, exactly, is the good news of each day. And let us tell it to others. Then let us look into the divine plan in the world and discover the good news that is in God’s mind. And let us tell it to others. “On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24.)
I suspect—in fact, I can promise—that this practice will make a huge different in our outlook and how we feel about our lives. Let us learn to live in the good news, and let us randomly get into the habit of sharing it with others.
I spy God!
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