Blog – Love Your Body Day!

One Sunday after church recently, there was food left over at Fellowship. The hosts were packing up the leftovers for people to take home. The platter of fresh vegetables was brought over to me. The person offering them to me said, “We figured you would take the veggies because that’s all you’re eating at your house.” Well, that’s close to true. As some of you may have noticed from seeing me at church recently, I have been losing weight. In fact, this past Sunday, someone said to me, “You’re disappearing!” Actually, quite the opposite is true. I am losing weight so that I don’t disappear: Disappear to inactivity due to health issues, or even disappear to premature death. At my annual physical this summer, my doctor pretty much told me to lose weight or else.

I got to thinking about that. Lose weight. This is something I have never wanted to bother with. Who cares? What difference does it make? But then my doctor sounded the alarm of very threatening health concerns related to my weight. I could have been told that I needed chemotherapy, or radiation, or an operation. But no, I was told to lose weight. Not so bad, really. So, I am complying with the doctor’s orders. I am not dieting because I want to look better or younger or improve my self image by being thinner. None of that could motivate me to reduce. But health, that’s another story.

Today is “Love Your Body” Day. It is sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW). Here is the explanation of this celebration:

NOW Foundation celebrates another year in our campaign to educate and encourage women and girls to say “no” to negative stereotypes and “yes” to awareness, health and a positive body image. Our Love Your Body Campaign continues to counter unrealistic beauty standards, gender stereotypes and sometimes harmful images imposed by media and advertisers with a simple but powerful message to women and girls — Love Your Body.
[Quoted from an email from NOW]

The invitation to love your body and take care of it is part of our religious heritage. In the New Testament, we are told, “Do you not know that your body is a temple [sanctuary] of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God . .?” [I Corinthians 6:19] This reminds us that our bodies are homes for the Divine. They are shelters for love. They host “God’s image” within. Our faith tradition teaches us to take care of ourselves so that our bodies are ready vessels inhabited by God and used by God for loving service. There are many ways that we may abuse our bodies: eating too much, eating too little, eating unhealthy foods, risky beautification procedures, smoking, drinking, drugs (legal and illegal), lack of sleep, unprotected sex, unsafe driving, exposure to danger, violence, and disease, and countless other hazards and threats. Each and every day, we need to appreciate our bodies as temples of the Spirit. Our bodies are not gods. They are not to be worshipped. But they are to be cared for so that God can dwell in us.

So, happy “Love Your Body” Day today and everyday!