morning invitations * body


'Didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit?  Don't you see you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for?  The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.  

God owns the whole works.  
So let people see God in and through your body.'
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 {The Message}  -

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If we're brave enough to gaze at our unclothed image in a full length mirror, are we filled with wonder and awe at His marvelous creation, so fearfully and wonderfully made?

The older we get, the less likely we are to be delighted at what stares back at us.  

For the years take their merciless toll as our strength wanes, our skin sags, and the numbers on the scale creep higher.  Our muscles loosen up and scars' jagged lines appear here and there, faded but still real, a striking testament to our suffering, disease, and injuries.  Weird aches, chronic pain, diagnoses that leave us shaken to the core, scary medical procedures, and sudden emergencies only serve to remind us that we are aging daily.

Yet the soul, the sacred place where the Spirit chooses as a dwelling place, is mysteriously housed in this imperfect frame.  If we can somehow re-calibrate our waning self-image to match that splendid truth, perhaps we would discover a life-altering invitation to a more deliberate, focused care of our bodies.

Not for the body's sake, but for the honor of our Creator.

When all is said and done, how awesome would it be to hear God say, 'well done, good and faithful servant' ... not only when He examines how we lived our lives, but also as He reflects on the way we cared for the bodies He Himself designed.

When it comes to the care of my body 

my desire is to live a

Christ honoring 

grace filled

no regrets

 proactive

lifestyle

I've got a long way to go on this.  But it's an invitation I want to say 'yes' to more faithfully.  For when my health goes south and my days are numbered, I want to be at complete peace knowing that I did the best I could with what I was given.  And leave the results in His most capable hands.

You, too?




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doing life with
 Kelly  .  Crystal  .  Holley  .  Lyli  .  Suzie

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