A few days ago, our family and friends celebrated my daughter, McKenna's, 16th birthday.

One of her close friends, Ashley, had this great idea of throwing her a surprise birthday luau but the only challenge was that her birthday fell on a Monday this year.

Fortunately, I was a little short-staffed at the office that morning, so McKenna offered to work the morning shift.

This was a major bonus because it gave my wife and Ashley time to decorate and prepare for the big surprise.

With her crew of McKenna's little siblings, Ashley went to work blowing up balloons, setting tables and chairs in place, arranging a "Make Your Own Bouquet" flower bar and candy charcuterie board, plus a ton of other knick-knack stuff that goes on with decorating for a party.

My wife went to work on wrapping up all the food prep details. All week long, Ali was secretly cooking big roasts, baking cakes, and getting all the side-dishes prepared while McKenna was either out of the house or asleep which meant cooking in the wee-hours of the night or morning.

They had the hard part of all the party prep, and I had the extremely difficult task of keeping McKenna out of the house the rest of the afternoon.

So, she got a manicure/pedicure at Tipsy's, followed by lunch at Leftovers (no, we didn't eat leftovers, that's the name of the restaurant), and then we went to Loxahatchee Ice Cream Company for some home-made coffee chip ice cream, and after that we decided to do a little shopping at Marshalls for a new dress.

This was really getting difficult for me to keep up with all these appointments (fortunately, my wife helped me plan the whole day weeks in advance but still it was quite a challenge for me to keep up).

There was still one more appointment that needed to be fulfilled, and that was the washing and styling of her hair at this place near our house called 'Blowtox.'

I got excited about this appointment because I figured while McKenna was having her hair done, I could get a quick shot of Botox before the party (just kidding).

I asked the receptionist, "How'd y'all come up with the name 'Blowtox'?"

She replied, "Our salon is kind of like getting Botox for the hair."

I really didn't get it, but that's OK.

Anyway, I arrived at the party with all my wrinkles, but McKenna looked fabulous like a gal out of Teen magazine.

We arrived and she was bombarded with 'SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!'

It was quite a moment. The rest of the evening will go down in the history books for my daughter as it is one of the most memorable times in her life.

The most meaningful time for me personally was when we had a time of sharing with family and friends who spoke words of encouragement and blessing into my daughter's life.

What 16-year-old doesn't need that? What person on earth doesn't need that?

It made me think of a verse I read in my Bible this morning, "A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones." Proverbs 14:30

The heart in this verse refers to the innermost you. It's the seat of all your thoughts and the center of all your emotions.

It affects every dimension of your life. The word 'tranquil' comes from the Hebrew word Marpe which literally means health, healing, or cure.

Thus, a healthy inner life, such as a tranquil heart, brings 'life to the body.'

The second half of that verse also rings true… but passion is rottenness to the bones.' The word 'passion' depicts an extremely powerful emotion where an object or quality of an object is being desired by a subject. It can be positive (zeal), or it can be negative (jealousy, envy).

In this case, it is negative as it refers to a passionate yearning for something that is not fulfilled, which can dominate and control a person's emotions while eating away at them from the inside out, kind of like cancer.

What's going on in your heart, in your innermost being, can have a direct influence on what's happening on the outside. You cannot separate the two.

Oftentimes, I will have patients who come in with pain thinking the main problem is coming from a physical source, when the issue is coming from a deep-seated, spiritual burden.

Sometimes, in our quest for true health, we may need to place our efforts on the more difficult 'heart work' that brings spiritual healing enabling us to be at peace with God and others.

This can be the key to a 'tranquil heart' which brings 'life to the body.'

Have a Tranquil Thursday!

- Dr. Derek 'Surprise!!!' Taylor, D.C.
(561) 867-1020