Honoring my she body

Here is an uber relaxed and not very attractive picture of my body. But I'm humiliating myself in this way because I think it works for a couple reasons. One, it looks like a body in peace...floating, getting tanned, being (which it very much was when the picture was taken by my husband who apparently thought this was a fantastic idea). Two, it is a surrendered body. Perhaps she has finally given up and has turned belly up to the world. Yes, I think she has.

I've been thinking a lot about our bodies lately. It seems to me that our bodies are flawed and not right in many ways. It is human and we are flesh and bones for crying out loud. There is sin that has corrupted much and we'll never know how that affects our bodies throughout generations long before we came and long after we are gone. There are some things within our bodies that aren't to be celebrated or to be looked upon as holy.

I am pretty much infertile, I've never found any beauty in that. It's a flaw. Another woman I know has an STD that her ex-husband (who abandoned her) gave her. She gets warts burned off when necessary and puts cream on. That's not beautiful, it's flawed. I know a few people that are very obese and I've never heard them tell me how beautiful they feel regarding their body. Obesity isn't beautiful, it's flawed. Another friend was in a car accident when young and had so many surgeries and a year of learning to walk again that her body still has scars. Others of us have thighs or bellies or you name it that drive us nuts on the outside. Or inner pain or fatigue that no one knows about that depresses us. There are many things about our bodies that are off, messed up and not very beautiful.

In the bible I've found the theme and feel conviction that we are to honor our bodies. Despite their flaws. As I deal with my own version of a messed up body I am convinced that I need to care for and honor her a tad more than I have. She is not a perfect vessel to carry me through this life but, she is the only one I will have. Can't trade this one in for a new one or look forward to an upgrade. She is what I've been given and I don't intend to spend my life hating her or being more limited by her than I have already allowed. But rather, I am trying to see her as what carries the Spirit within me around.

2 Corinthians 5 is a fantastic read. Particularly the part about new bodies! Looking forward to that day. Until then, gonna do a little caring and honoring of this dying one. She's doing the best she can and there is much much more inside her than the mere body lets on.

Rest her I shall. Sit in my garden and read. Play with my son and not worry about the things of the world. Eat well. Exercise much. Feel & talk. Pray and trust God no matter what my body is doing. Be grateful for the time and health I have now. Smile. Rest her I shall.