The Blessing Of Balance

Until Jaybird joined his Heavenly Father just shy of his ninetieth birthday, my boyhood best friend and mentor enjoyed good health, although the beloved old black man’s lifestyle was not entirely healthful: After a long day’s work, he would often relax by smoking a cigarette or two, along with a few cold beers, but never beyond moderation, for as he pointed out, “Overdoing pleasures makes a man slave to pleasures.” Jaybird would have agreed with two of Mark Twain’s observations: “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not,” and “Some people deprive themselves of every eatable, drinkable and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health, and health is all they get.”

“Overdoing pleasures makes a man slave to pleasures.”

Jaybird believed that taking care of oneself sufficiently to fulfill opportunities for serving others is enough; overdoing that care diminishes chances to enjoy life, an attitude that allowed him to indulge in less than salubrious pleasures. He viewed health the same way he viewed all aspects of life: balance. Like all God’s children, Jaybird suffered through occasional illnesses, but since complaining was anathema to him, if asked how he felt when ill he’d say, “I’m off my feed a bit; it’ll pass.” In dealing with all matters — illness included — courage, faith, and wisdom to accept that life’s negatives and positives must balance, provided all the armament Jaybird needed. Even in the direst of times, he found comfort and reassurance in what he called “sumpin’ to look forward to”: eternal life with Jesus. With that in mind, I — his white son, as he called me — respected him and wanted to be like him. By example he taught me what he felt was most important: how to make the scales of life balance while remaining within the bounds of goodness. Once when I was down with the flu, Jaybird checked on me daily, and when I complained that I was tired of feeling awful, he said, “Son, if you ain’t never sick, you won’t never know how good feeling good feels” — words that offered little comfort to a miserable twelve-year-old boy. Seeing an opportunity to impart another of the countless teachings that have sustained me down through the years and always provide support in the toughest of times, my mentor explained that because people have little control over life’s health and sickness phases, they have no choice but to accept them. However ephemeral it may be, happiness, he believed, comes from serving others and thereby serving God and glorifying His name, a duty that can be met just as well, and sometimes even better, in times of illness. Like all blessings, Jaybird knew that people are apt to take good health for granted until sickness reminds them that it is a gift from the Lord. When wellness returns, they benefit from His grace through what my mentor taught me to understand: the blessing of balance.

This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s upcoming book, entitled The Jaybird Tales. The book will be available before the holiday season. Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (jimmycecilreedjr@gmail.com).