The basics
A good life and good health are greatly desired, but they are basically gifts that have been given to you. You didn’t choose to be born and you certainly didn’t choose your parents or the circumstances in which you would live the early years of your life. All of the basic resources that you needed for your survival, growth, protection, and welfare were provided for you by your parents or someone else who cared for you. In most countries of the world there are laws against anyone abusing children or even neglecting them, but in some places they are abused, neglected, abandoned, sold, or even killed without many penalties. Your body was designed to protect you from what could be harmful by causing you to cough or to sneeze or to expel the contents of your stomach when it became toxic and to expel the “waste” that was produced from its normal digestive functions. Your parents were loving enough to try to give you only what was “good” for you, but you had to learn to trust them and to follow their instructions for the diet that they provided and recommended for you, even some vegetables. You had receptors in your body that indicated to you what tasted “good”, what gave you pleasure, and even what was not “good” by causing you to feel some “pain”. Not everything in this world is “good” for you, and some places and activities are actually personally very dangerous for you.
Your responsibility
The quality of your life and the maintenance of the resources for the normal health of your body is up to you. They are not the responsibilities of any government, community agency, relative, or friendly neighbor. As a child or even as a growing youth, you may not always realize this, yet it is your basic responsibility to manage your life and the resources that you will consume or use for your ongoing health. You have inherited some benefits in your genes and maybe even some disabilities, and it is up to those who care for you and ultimately for you to manage these resources in your life as you seek to experience a good life with ongoing good health. But since everything is not always “good” for you and you may not be wise enough or experienced enough to know what is “bad”, you have to decide whom you are going to trust to provide you with what is “good” and what rules you are going to follow for your own welfare and protection. At a point in your life, probably while you are still somewhat “young”, you will become an “independent” person who is relatively “free” to consume what you want to put into your body, to go where you want to go, and to do what you want to do. You will be “free” to consume what makes you feel “good”, to deal with your “pain” as you choose to do so, and to establish the personal disciplines (rules) that you determine will provide you with the qualities of life and health that you seek for yourself. You may be able to buy some insurance to help you to cover the costs for the necessary resources and care, but no one has to provide you with the funds to do so.
What is good?
What have you discovered in your life that is “good” for you? Whom do you trust to direct you to what is “good”? For some resources that are “good” forever, I invite you to check these out at christianityetc.org. As you are seeking a “good” life and “good” health, let’s talk about this.