Loving Our Bodies Just The Way They Are

I was reading Good Housekeeping (yes I know I'm getting old:), but truthfully I have been reading it regularly since I was about 10) and I came across this column by Geneen Roth.

She recounts a very interesting story and it reminds you, many things in life are just a matter of perspective.

She talks about women hating their bodies and getting down about having large thighs or not being able to lose the baby weight. Then she recounts the story of a graduate student she knew who had been misdiagnosed with a brain tumor. She points out that during the time the woman thought she had a brain tumor, at no point did it enter her mind she wished she had spent more time getting the "perfect" body.

I have struggled with this tremendously over the years, as have many in my family and many friends as well. I spent a summer as the director of an art program at a camp on the East Coast during college and for the first time in my life, the idea of the perfect body wasn't a 100-pound blond haired blue-eyed girl (which I'm not). Not long after that, I spent time in Mexico and both experiences together gave me a broader perspective on beauty and helped me become more grateful for the body God gave me, even with all its imperfections.

I love articles like this that put "problems" like a crooked nose or a little bit extra weight into perspective.

My body, flawed as it may be, has carried two of the most precious gifts, my boys, into my life, not to mentioned nourished them and helped them grow into babies for nine months in the womb.

My body has helped me travel around the world, helped me hike around Europe, study in Mexico, live in several states and experience many new communities. My heart has worked hard to keep pumping. My cells work hard to repair themselves when I clumsily fall and sustain injuries, usually in an effort to save my camera:). My muscles built themselves up so I could play soccer, tennis, basketball, run and do scuba.

I know many people can tell you it just takes a serious illness to make you really appreciate normalcy.

How cool is it that God created our bodies to know what we need, when we need it? I know I can often think about what I don't like about my body, but when I sit down and think about it, I am so grateful it works and has given me the opportunity to live life. I challenge everyone to take a moment and thank God for our bodies and the way they were made. I love the column made me remember what I love about my body. Hope it does the same for you.