Every now and again I remember and take notice of periods in my life that were defining. The notice is where I am struck. During the experience, I didn’t recognize it as a defining place. As I remember it and look at life in the moment, it was pivotal.
I am grateful for the myriad of colorful and sometimes misled life opportunities that provide me with these defining moments such as my foray in the selling women’s clothing.
I didn’t think of this misguided part time job experience as a defining moment until recently. I learned that most women, me included, have a body image problem – self-critical and filled with perceived shortcomings, flawed. I firmly believe that my spirit marinaded in this thought for years and is partly responsible for my passion of health, wholeness, and holiness today, manifesting itself in writing. The job in hindsight was a defining moment.
The body is a gift… health, vitality, clarity vibrancy is housed in this incredible gift. It follows us wherever our mind takes us. What ought our response be to the gift? Cherish and love it.
A gift is a thing given willingly to someone without an expectation of a payment. Recipients of a gift should not wish it could be different. That doesn’t mean that the gift can’t be enhanced and or strengthen. Instead of wishing for upper arms that aren’t flabby or a flatter tummy or smaller or bigger butt, practice gratitude for the way it serves exactly as it is.
The body is loyal even when mistreated. Let that loyalty motivate a work to return it to its intended state if it has been mistreated. Even then be grateful for what is and grateful for the desire to correct or enhance your whatever.
The body is a physical shed for our memories – exactly as it is. It is a wise teacher, speaking and leading us in the right direction if we listen.
The magnificent body is a self-contained, protective mechanism and offers loyal twenty-four hour, three hundred and sixty-five days a year surveillance of our inner and outer world.
We produce our own turbulence and eddies when we see the precious gift as anything other than fearfully and wonderfully made.
PAUSE: Recall a personal defining moment. What did you do with it?
Ephesians 2:10
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Walt Whitman., “If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred.”
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