I have neglected blogging, but have not neglected the BTD during Spring Break. Everyone in my family was sick except me. I’m sure beneficial foods that act like medicine had something to do with that, though there must be other factors as well since DD is every bit as conscientious as I am.

Spring colds did not keep us from enjoying Spring Break. We cooked some delicious food – I have one really good recipe to share. We took some fun hikes in the Hill Country. We ate at some very friendly BTD restaurants. I’ll write about all of that in my next blog.

But today I’m going to tell a story about an incident that happened this morning that you might be able to relate to. After battling a bad cold for three weeks, my Honorable Husband was almost well. HH is prone to sinus infections, and our old city doctor would give him antibiotics if a cold dragged on for more than a week. Our new country doctor refused to do that. She said that there was no indication of an infection, and she told him to get a saline spray for his nose and keep taking cough syrup and mucus thinners. I was cheering on the inside, but I couldn’t show it because HH was furious. In the end he had to admit that the new doctor was right. He got over the cold without antibiotics.

Just as he was feeling like himself again, HH had what appears to be another diverticulitis attack. It was hard to tell at first, because diverticulitis has all of the same symptoms as a stomach bug – abdominal pain and fever. He admitted that he has been constipated, but had not done anything to remedy the situation. Worse, he admitted that he only goes to the bathroom about every two days. That is not good for colon health, so I began thinking of things he can do to get his bowels moving.

When we woke up this morning, I told him to go to the kitchen and drink a full glass of water before breakfast. A few minutes later I found him in the office on the computer. “Did you drink your water?” I said. No, he hadn’t made it to the kitchen yet. “Go,” I said with authority. “Get the water now.”

When I arrived in the kitchen HH was drinking something with color. “What are you drinking?” I asked.
“Water,” he said with irritation.
“No,” I said. “That is not water. What is it?”
“It’s leftover tea from last night and I filled up the rest of the glass with water,” he said.
I explained about sphincter muscles and how plain water will go straight through an empty stomach and start your bowels moving.

Suddenly I saw a couple of parallels. People say the BTD is hard. I’ve said that myself. But it’s not really hard. People just don’t want to follow simple instructions about completely avoiding foods that everybody around them is eating. We want to do things our own way and still enjoy maximum health. Some people may get away with doing that in the short run, but in the long run it will catch up with them.

The second parallel is in my spiritual life. I do this to God all the time. The instructions in the Bible are quite clear and relatively simple. Do this, and it will be to your benefit. But I don’t want to do things God’s way. I change things. I stop to do something I want to do. I add to or subtract from the simple instructions. I saw my own self will and my stubbornness in my husband’s behavior about the easy directions to drink a glass of plain water when he first gets out of bed.

Do a little Spring Break self analysis. Are you eating the BTD way or your own way? Are you living a life that honors the God who created you, or are you making up your own rules? Don’t miss out on the physical and spiritual blessings that come from a life of simple obedience.