My Blair is very health conscious. I don't know anyone who is more committed to being healthy than she is. She's always been interested in exercise, eating right, and doing what she can to stay fit and well and she sends Davis and me information on how we can do the same. Like a lot of her generation, she reads a good bit about food, cosmetics, and hygiene/cleaning products and which ones are deemed healthy and which are considered harmful. And I'm certainly not criticizing, but these younger people are really into the clean, organic, all-natural products. I'm not even really sure what all of it means. They want cage-free, dye-free, antibiotic-free, chemical-free, hormone-free, GMO-free. That's not a bad thing. There's just so much that we, their parents, never gave much thought to like phosphates, aluminum, sulfates, nitrates, BPA, parabens, triclosan, and other things that I can't pronounce or spell. Blair's gifted me with all-natural cleaners, hand sanitizers, lotions, and soaps in an effort to get us in the habit of using less chemicals around this lethal place and I've really liked them all. She also directed me to get the Think Dirty app to check the safety ratings on all the products I use regularly. She's also the one appointed to explain the salacious sounding app to anyone who questions it in the event of my untimely demise.

I don't think my generation is really to blame for the blind eye we've turned to such things. I mean we were raised by people, who smoked with the car windows up, while the kids suffocated in the back seat with their own candy cigarettes in hand. If we walked in the house and the noxious combination of Pine-Sol, Clorox, and Comet caused immediate respiratory distress, well, we knew it was cleaning day and we needed to just turn around and go back outside. These are the parents who let us wander around inside the car as it barreled down the interstate with only an extended arm between us and the windshield. They put us in carcinogen-laced flame retardant pajamas and sent us off to bed. We rode down big hills balancing on our brother's handlebars with nothing on our heads but twin bead ponytail holders. These people stuck bars of soap in our mouths when we said ugly words. They watched us run behind the mosquito truck and did nothing but wave. No, health conscious isn't what I'd call our parents, who were the first to feed their kids mac and cheese and orange juice - both in powder form. So, it's not really our fault that we're not as alarmed about health risks as those who've come after us. Our entire childhood was one big health risk and we're the proud survivors.

Well, one trip home, Blair told me about the potentially harmful ingredients in deodorant. I'd seen all of those more natural deodorant alternatives in the stores, but she and some friends had tried several and she'd found one that was working for her. I decided I'd give it a whirl. I mean, I've used deodorant for quite a few years now, but I guess it's never too late to make a change in the interest of longevity and becoming a drain on the kids' inheritance.

Well, I tried one and, at the end of the day, I wasn't quite sure it was up to the task. I used another brand and noticed that, after I exercised, there were smells similar to what you'd expect to come wafting from the Cowboys' locker room after a long day of summer camp. I thought, "Ok,  I'm apparently just a sweatier person than Blair. A more beastly woman. Less estrogen-ous and more menopausal-ous." Yeah, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that I'm not near as delicate and prissy as her, so I just needed to find another brand that was suited for a sturdier, more hardy woman like myself. I tried another chemical-free brand and another and, both times, I reminded myself of a large man, who'd been working out in the field all day. There are some products from which I can accept a little less in the interest of good health, but deodorant is not one of them. I did finally find a $24 mail-order deodorant that works better than any I'd ever used, toxic or non-toxic, if you don't mind the feeling of pine tar under your arms and itching so bad that you scratch your armpits all day like an ape. I finally realized that for this menopausal season, at least, the more natural deodorants didn't contain the ingredient that makes deodorant actually work for me. Whatever that ingredient is. Taking it out produced results that were less than ideal.

I couldn't help but think that's what we've done with God in our society. He's been labeled as harmful and detrimental and there are constant efforts to remove any trace of the offending "toxin". Even with all the attempts to convince us that He's causing problems, actually, the further we push away from Him, the more dire our situation becomes. We've been conditioned to be politically correct in our speech and carefully craft our words to avoid exposing anyone to the offensive element as sensitivity levels are out the roof. We've made our best efforts to do school, discipline, parenting, law, family, business- all without God. What we're seeing is that He was actually the ingredient that made it all work like it's supposed to and taking Him out of the mix has left us with a mess. You might even say a big, smelly one.

But, because it's never my intention to leave us feeling depressed, I want us to challenge ourselves to make bold efforts to put God back into our piece of the world. Refuse to sit quietly and fear repercussions. Reverse the brainwashing that God's word is something we should whisper. Don't allow Him to be taken off of every public corner in our society. Don't stand by and watch His name being treated like a toxicant. We can turn this thing around if we put Him back into the formula. We know that only God can take things that are broken and make them whole again. He can light up the places that were overwhelmed with darkness. He can bring hope where despair had made its home. He can write new beginnings where there seemed to be nothing left but an end. He always has been and always will be the active ingredient.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Proverbs 14:12

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

"I am the Light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12



Y'all have a lovely weekend!