The Choice is Yours

I have always searched for and worked to be my healthiest self. Since I was a freshman in high school, or maybe even younger, I was self conscious about my weight and my looks. Somewhere in my life I learned that I needed to lose weight. My best friend in junior high had legs that would both fit in one leg of my pants and they'd still be baggy, and she had that dip in her waist on both sides. My sides flowed a bit over the jeans, so I never worn jeans, always a dress or skirt. I wrapped a towel around my waist at the beach to cover my rear and legs, only to take it off when I was laying down and I definitely, made sure I spent at least an hour fixing my hair every morning. Sometimes throwing a brush when things didn't go quite well.

The grapefruit diet, Weight Watchers, Jazzercise, and Bally's. Each one promising the right body, the right food. I was young, but the adults were doing it, so I must as well. We learn from a young age what is acceptable and what is not. My hair, my rear and my legs needed some work.

As a junior in high school, I hit the weights at the gym often, started teaching aerobics and fought to eat right when my friends were putting down Big Macs and pizza on a Friday night after the football game. It's been a battle since I can remember.

The funny thing is, when I look back at pictures, the image I had then is hardly the image I see in photos. So, where does it come from?

There are a lot of messages here we could talk about, but what I want to focus on is how my image shifted from losing weight to being healthy. After spending so much energy on losing weight, I realized that exercising and eating healthy actually made me feel better. Healthy doesn't just mean what we eat and drink, but how we feel and how we interact with others.

It is time we all think about how our self-image is affected by those around us and how we affect those we encounter every day. God created us to be in His image, and so we must take care of ourselves to reflect His glory and goodness. We cannot let others determine our worth and value but instead, find the things we love that make us better for the Kingdom. Today, I take care of my body because I want to live my best life and feel good doing it. I want to share with others the stories of heartache and survival, of struggle and success and finally, that we have a choice to live an abundant life.

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.