麻豆约拍

From comedian & writer Paul Kerensa:

The second I鈥檝e stopped pausing for thought today, I鈥檓 running a few streets over to University College Hospital for my annual check-up. I need one more than most 鈥� born inside-out. Before the age of 5 I'd had a dozen surgeries under my belt 鈥� literally just under it. I鈥檓 here against the odds, after a couple of near-misses on the operating table, not least the very moment of my unusual birth. To this day, I feel for my parents, who had no idea I'd pop out with some inside bits popped out.

So I embrace my annual service: my medical MOT. I need it to function. It picks up problems before I get them. If it gets me on the right track, the doctors can kick my tyres, test my brakes, whatever they need to do.

We鈥檙e a week into Lent, when many of the faithful have a sort of spiritual annual check-up. Checking the tyres of our lives, making sure our moral engine鈥檚 going to carry us through. Lent鈥檚 meant to be preparation, hunkering down to get ourselves right, checking our bearings before the road gets rocky. And preparation is key. Abe Lincoln said, 鈥淕ive me six hours to chop down a tree, I鈥檒l spend the first four sharpening the axe.鈥� Admittedly, he wasn鈥檛 known for his lumberjack skills.

But I鈥檓 sure these mini-MOTs are vital for us, identifying problems ahead before they become problems: whether spiritual, moral, occupational, even marital. Last year m鈥檞ife and I joined a great marriage course at our church, not because we had problems, but because we didn鈥檛, and wanted to stay that way.

So hurray for our personal MOTs: spiritual, marital or medical. When I was a newborn, my parents had no luxury of foreknowledge, to prepare for the traumatic state I was in. So as I head to my annual check-up on this, my mum鈥檚 birthday, it seems a good time to say thanks Mum, for your patience and concerned care when you couldn鈥檛 prepare... oh, and happy birthday.