It's not easy being short...

I saw a headline this morning and it was the first thing I read:

"Short people at risk for heart problems"

As if we don't get enough warnings about all the things we can control in our lives such as diet, exercise, sleep...now we are supposed to worry about what we cannot do anything about.

Apparently statistics now show that if you are 5'3" or under (that would be me), you have a 50% greater chance of dying from heart trouble. "We don't want to scare short people, but perhaps they should be extra cautious about their lifestyle" said one professor, who wasn't even connected with the study.

Here are the potential reasons for the greater risk:

1) perhaps short people are poor and undernourished - Well, I'm certainly not wealthy but in comparison to most of the world I am certainly not poor or undernourished. Seems like it used to be that potential heart problems were of special concern to the "over" nourished!

2) short people may have a hormone imbalance - Oh my. The report didn't say if they were picking on women in particular, but they better watch it!

3) short people have smaller arteries and therefore are more susceptible to artery clogging and high blood pressure problems - This possible reason seemed to make the most sense, theoretically speaking, but I'll tell you, we have a lot of short people in my family's lineage, but we also have a lot of longevity.

One spokesman stated that cardiologists need to be careful at drawing conclusions that short people are more susceptible to heart problems, that it would potentially unfairly stigmatize them. This is the scary part to me. How unfair it would be for insurance companies and employers, for example, to discriminate against short people on the grounds they could possibly be at greater risk for heart problems.

Just what the world needed, another report coming out to scare people about health hazards! While I definitely think it is a good idea to use common sense and apply wisdom in trying to take care of the bodies we have been entrusted with, the fact remains that we will not live in these bodies forever! Something will wear out or fail us eventually.

I refuse to live a life of fear over something I had no control over. Yes, I am short. In fact I'm an inch shorter than what I was when I was younger! But my times are in His hands, the One who created me and determined how long I would live before I was even born. Read all about it in Psalm 139. And live each day to the fullest!

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.