Wellness culture has infiltrated the church. Scripture casts a different vision.
Seventeen years ago, I was 20 weeks pregnant with our first child, and my husband and I learned through an ultrasound that we were having a healthy baby girl. When Penny entered the world, she scored 8 out of 10 on her Apgar test, an immediate measure of infant health. She nursed and made eye contact and slept and pooped and cried. She came home from the hospital two days later.
But the doctors also told us they suspected Penny had Down syndrome. We wondered whether she was a healthy baby girl after all. As we took her to regular checkups, we learned Penny was so small she didn’t show up on the growth charts, and she rarely achieved developmental milestones “on time.”
She had a little hole in her heart that needed surgical intervention. She needed glasses. Her ears were filled with fluid. She had a greater risk of childhood leukemia, celiac disease, and autism. She also was learning, growing, and smiling. She loved us and we loved her.
We live in a world that measures health by a lack of illness, injury, and disability. The multitrillion-dollar global wellness movement tries to expand our understanding of health through proactive efforts to promote human flourishing. Yet neither health nor wellness as we define them in contemporary society makes room for people with disabilities.
Moreover, despite the trillions spent on wellness and health care, we are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness, pain, depression, and other mental health concerns, not to mention the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and an epidemic of chronic pain.
We need more than medical interventions and wellness retreats in order to heal. A biblical understanding of health offers us a holistic experience of peace and connection within our bodies, …
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