Hmmm Healthy..

Hmmmm. That maybe be true.. though I'm pretty sure there are healthy people that die young everyday.. I'm not here to debate the issue... just realizing that I'm tired of abusing my body and really it's not mine to abuse... It's God's temple to do whatever he wants with it.

Lately I've been convicted to really get down to the nitty gritty and lose that 20 lbs. I've been trying to lose these last 6-8 years. Well here goes. Before I got married my lovely thin physician's assist said I needed to lose 20 lbs. by December.. Not unreasonsable. Ok after the wedding I'll start eating better. So that didn't work out. I'm realizing my love of food is strong... but not stronger than the fact that I need to be healthier overall for my family.. for my husband.. the youngin that he is.

Here we go again and well hopefully this time it sticks.. I've always been able to lose 5 lbs here and there but then I get complacent and unmotivated.. well make goals Astrid.. Yeah did that. But I think now more than the goal of a specific BMI or weight on a scale.. I realize my body is mad at me. It is furious in fact with my lack of care... which translates to my idolatry of food, laziness and lack of discipline. Seems harsh but unfortunately true. It seems like people are pushing healthy, but to be honest we are the number one obsese nation in the world. We push perfection but when we aim for those unattainable standards we eat ourselves to death... or don't eat ourselves to death.

I don't have an unhealthy relationship with food, but I realize I do not have the best perspective on health. Health is different from beauty. Beauty happens to trigger these unrealistic standards by which we govern our bodies. Women especially - myself included at times.. but as I have been reading various excerpts from Jonathan Edwards on beauty -- we humans have askewed view of what God created to magnify and glofiry himself. Beauty is in the eye of our Lord's eye. He created us in his image and said we were good, therefore God thinks we are beautiful... what happens to this form is our responsibility and God requires us to maintain it for his glory.

I guess I've just been mindful of the fact that I have been robbing God of his glory when I say I don't care about the condition of my body... not talking about image here. For remember we were fearfully and wonderfully made... uniquely..so looking different is good.. it is the vessel only and more importantly this vessel is made to work for him.

What it all boils down to is.. my heart on the issue of health. My heart has been clouded with images of falsehood and even as I've known there needs to be a healthier me-- I've rebelled because of the work required to get there. But with everything that God has given us -- work is invovled. We are constantly in need of working out our salvation... meaning we need to be active and not sedentary in our lives..

Hmmm and you though this was gonna be me complaining about how fat I am... well I'm not.. No more compliants and hopefully if you're reading this.. you too are encouraged as whatever health range you are now... to be better... for the work that God has prepared for you will be hard... but it will be worth it.