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Health & Fitness Make Peace With Your Body AS I PICK UP MY second favorite women's magazine (the first being On the Way... with American Baptist Women, of course), I am stopped by the full page, full color, inside cover with a stunning Melanie Griffith giving me advice. She (and Revlon) counsel, "Don't lie about your age, DEFY IT!" Sounds good. But then I remember that Melanie recently had a new baby (which says something about her biological age), has the income to buy vats of the most expensive anti-wrinkle cream in the world, and is married to Antonio Banderas! In response, I muse, "Mr. Revlon, why not choose a spokesperson who has something to defy? I'm available and work cheap!" Our bodies, and keeping them presentable to the world, certainly absorb a lot of energy, time, money and creativity. Shall we just defy age and let it all hang out? Defy the natural processes and make that appointment with the plastic surgeon and/or the makeover beautician? Or defy the popular idea in our society that only "young and beautiful" is acceptable? Even those of us who would never miss a meal or neglect "nourishing" ourselves with three daily meals plus a hot fudge sundae thrown in here and there (for fellowship, of course) find that we are victims of needing (wanting) to look like the those in our church and other groups that make up our world. That often leads to violence to our own bodies. Take shoes, for instance. Were our feet ever shaped to be shoved into a thin piece of leather, crushing our toes together, and then defying gravity by adding a four-inch difference in height at the back of the foot? Our cross-training athletic shoes may be comfortable and orthopedically correct, but we wouldn't be caught dead in them at a wedding. That leads to more mayhem... the control-top pantyhose that one wears in order to slip the tight skirt over hips and feet into snug shoes. My 93-year-old aunt is still wearing her stiletto heels and swears that they are going to heaven with her, because they make her legs look better. As we look at the program theme of "Living as Christians in a Violent Society," we have to acknowledge that our western value system often does violence to the dreams and plans that our Creator God has for our earthly, physical bodies. It also has led to doing violence to our bodies. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are symptoms of what is now termed, "a confirmed negativity condition" concerning our bodies. Our beauty and worth are based on some radically different and positive conditions, according to God. These do not exclude the maintenance of health, vitality and attractiveness, but those qualities are not the end goal. God's definition of beauty is also widely expansive, embracing differences in color, shape and form. The variety and diversity in creation is stunning. Around the World, Beauty Is Fleeting and Fickle Our own notions of beauty are often fickle and we get into trouble when we begin to define ourselves by how we look or by letting others decide what that elusive look is to be. For many years, I and my husband served with our family as missionaries in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Historically, some African tribes have added coil after coil of necklaces to young women to elongate their necks to achieve "beauty." Others felt they had the edge on beauty by enhancing bottom lips with insertions of cork tubes. Chinese women of another era had their feet bound to inhibit growth and produce tiny feet. That they could hardly walk by the time they were adults did not deter those who felt this was the path to true "beauty." I think we should take God's advice: "Don't lie about your age, or who you are. Revel in being My perfect creation." In Europe and America, there was a time when the "perfect" female body had an 18-inch waist, with corsets deforming and damaging internal organs. Today, American women risk skin cancer by sunbathing and visiting salons to darken and tan their skin. They have silicone breast implants and liposuction surgeries. Some African women have risked skin damage to bleach and lighten their genetic coloring with chemicals. So where do we find our standards? How do we know when we are O.K.? Eugene Peterson's version of the New Testament called The Message, gives us this rendition of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul wrote it to those folks in Ephesus and to us today. "It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eyes on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." 1:46 "I ask....Jesus Christ, the God of Glory to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians and the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him endless energy, boundless strength!" 1:17-19 Sounds like a beautiful body to me: focused, clear eyes, able to live gloriously, intelligent and discerning mind reflected on our faces and the bonus of endless energy and boundless strength. I think we should take God's advice: "Don't lie about your age, or who you are. Revel in being My perfect creation.". Copyright 1998, On the Way...with American Baptist Women, Winter 1998, Vol. 42, No. 1. Reprinted with permission. Gloria Marshall is now a "California girl" and American Baptist Women's Ministries' Mission Study Tour Coordinator To find out more about the American Baptist Women's Ministries, go to the Web site. |
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