"Back in Line" with Dr. Mosier: The Valentine’s Day Wake-Up Call

About three weeks ago, I found myself in quite a marital situation.

It was Valentine’s Day. After breakfast, Ellen gave the boys their Valentine’s presents from us… presents I didn’t even know about. Then it happened. She handed me a bag. Not a present—a bag.

Needless to say, the “oh crap” alarm started going off in my head like it was the Fourth of July.

Yep, you guessed it… I didn’t get her anything.

In my defense, I thought we weren’t getting each other gifts because the following week is our dating anniversary—which, for obvious reasons, I hold in higher regard.

But in that moment, there was no fixing the situation. I couldn’t go back in time and put some thought into how my wife feels about Valentine’s Day. The damage was done, and feelings were already hurt.

The Greek word for ability or power is dunamis. It implies strength, capability, or inherent force. It’s actually the root of English words like dynamite and dynamic. In other words, there is power residing within each of us—the ability to act—so long as we take responsibility.

And in this case, I didn’t take responsibility to plan for that special day.

If we’re honest, many of us do the same thing when it comes to our health. We find ourselves in a difficult or even frightening situation because of a medical issue that might have been prevented if we had made small lifestyle changes months—or years—earlier.

Health is our responsibility. It is our dunamis. There is power in recognizing that we were skillfully and wonderfully created to be healthy.

So when it comes to our habits and choices, we all face the same decision:

Will we experience the pain of discipline… or the pain of regret?

Your friend,

Dr. Mosier