For any of you who have kids you are aware how much stress choosing a name for your child can cause. I find it more than a little ironic that before we even had kids Brent and I had a conversation regarding what we would want to name a son. We each told the other we had one name in mind we wanted to use no matter what. If you can believe it, when we each revealed our one name it turned out to be the exact same name –how perfect, this must be meant to be! So, wouldn’t you know it we had two girls and no sons!!! Sadly, when it came to girl names we had next to nothing for agreement. Finding a name was a huge challenge. I never would have believed how much each of our past experiences influenced the choosing, particularly the names that were completely out of consideration because of some negative association one of us had with the name.
When it came to choosing a name for the Eye Live office we once again knew we faced a challenge. Thankfully coming to agreement was not as difficult as finding a name that expressed what we wanted the office to be about. We knew that we wanted a different focus at this office. We wanted it to reflect who we are and to be about wellness. In defining what we consider wellness it became clear that to us wellness for us is deeply rooted in our faith, it is about living as well as possible in our present situation. In our opinion wellness may, but doesn’t have to mean you are free from disease or problems. For each of us our definition of wellness is going to be different and it will vary at various times during our life. I believe it is possible to live with something like cancer and still technically be well. To me wellness is more about how we decide to live out our circumstance whatever it might be.
In our waiting room, you will find a book that I feel captures this so well. The book is titled “But if Not” and it is written by Brenda Susan Pue. Brenda is now home after living her time on earth so well. The book is essentially her journal she wrote so beautifully and shared with many after she was told she had stage IV lung cancer and wasn’t likely to live more than a few more months. Brenda not only defied this time estimate, but she lived her final days before passing through with an even greater purpose, fullness and life. She Lived and she lived well. I do hope when you are in our office you will take time to read her book. It is filled with great hope and inspiration for anyone no matter your life situation. If you are interested in getting a copy of your own please be sure to ask us how.
Brent’s education and experience is obviously to help you live out your best state of wellness for your eyes, but our hope is that our focus on Living extends to all areas of your life. At our kid’s school, they choose a theme song each year. This year the song is Live it Well, by Switchfoot. The timing of this theme song is especially meaningful to me as it captures so well the changes our family has been feeling called to make in our own lives this past year and what we hope to also encourage others with. Not to mention it confirms for me how important the word LIVE is in our name and how well it captures what we want to do with our time.
Peace,
Marla
Eye Live Well 