Tonight I look like a rake.
Let me explain, for your sake!
No sin makes me this way,
But rather a plain, working day.
The scratches are from the weeds I pulled.
The splatters from the chickens I culled.
The callus from the pencil I used.
And the rest is regular work abuse.
Wait, my hair’s tangled because of the baby:
She decided “mangled” was the best look, maybe.
I did wash my hands every other time,
Even if it is hard to tell from the layers of grime.
Yes, I’d always rather look like a princess for you,
But there was a steady stream of work to do.
I am a tool used for my duties and loves,
My purpose is bigger than looks or silken stuffs.
You know that, and you know this:
When the work is done, nothing amiss
The tools get cleaned and put to rest.
If we skip that step, they will soon be missed.
So for what I am, now I’m clean, too.
Maintained by time with you,
Rejuvenated by stopping,
As there is a time to stop mopping.
So looking like a rake
Is a perspective point to make:
Both using and caring for this person
Is just what I am to do, for certain.
She did not really enjoy food anymore. Crystal’s whole life seemed a non-stop cycle of futile dieting. Reaching for blander foods became a habit, as if boring food could keep her from overeating. Instead it led to overeating later. This spun her into mindless eating because of her accidental habit of zoning-out instead of experiencing what she ate. That was why she could never win her weight battle. Or part of it.
Life is just hard. Ed worked long hours and had a lot of stressful moments in his day. He deserved a reward, something to lighten his day. Except the more he used food to lighten up, the heavier he became. Frequent snacks, candy, fast food, and desserts made him feel better – but only while he ate them. Yes, he needed encouragement, but he was using food as a drug. But that was only part of the problem.
Sarah saw so much to do, and she could do it. What did she have to lose, if she could get everything done by skipping meals and working late? Life blurred together, she accomplished amazing things, and people knew they could rely on her. But she constantly ignored her body because” it wasn’t important compared to other things.” Eventually tired and worn down, Sarah was a classic burn out.
“Gonna make the best of this!” Maddie quoted her mantra. She flicked her cigarette butt to the floor and popped the lid on another beer. “You should try this, Maddie.” Her friend passed her a contraption with a curl of acrid smoke sneaking out the edges. “Why not?” she thought, “Only one life, right?” One addiction after another was her way, and her body was definitely suffering through a shortened life sentence.
Samantha dreamed of looking like her slender, popular friend Jasmine, with her “magnificent everything.” It seems Samantha couldn’t help but spend hours flipping through magazines full of attractive, pencil-like models, when she wasn’t silently comparing her body’s size and shape to everyone she knew. In her selfishness, she forgot what life is about. “I can do this! I can be the best.” she told herself and she spiraled into an eating disorder, skipping meals and ‘living’ off of mints and water, despite her friends and parents. Soon she was a rack of bones, lonely, and very sick. Somehow she didn’t look like the models, feel good about herself, or glow anymore. Samantha’s mind wasn’t just confused, her body was broken.
“I don’t have time to exercise!” “I eat whatever I want, and I never gain weight.” “Why are we even talking about this?” All these individuals and these comments entirely ignore the purpose of your body.
A few nights back I was walking through our tree farm reading a book as the sun was setting with purple, gold and pink just past Green Mountain. Out of the corner of my eye the common combination of orange and white with black lettering caught my eye in the grass. Sure enough, a chainsaw lay beside a partially cut pile of fallen trees. Without a second thought I carried the chainsaw for the rest of my walk and stowed it safely in the barn for the evening. It was force of habit to properly preserve that equipment.
Put your tools away when you’re done. Clean the tools. Fix them. Maintain them. Use them correctly in the way they are supposed to be used. Read the manual. At our farm, there are rules for all tools. As a child, a shovel left in the yard overnight meant a trip to the proverbial woodshed for training. A hammer left behind meant a mark for the behind.
If you were to view your body as a valuable tool, how would you act? It’s irreplaceable, expensive, requires maintenance, and it is the only thing you can use that can do what you must do. Would you think twice before putting the wrong substance in the expensive engine, or ripping out a spark plug just for kicks?
Bodies like tools, are not meant to be only viewed and admired either: like any man knows that’s only one small use of the tractor. The admiration is ultimately because of the item’s capabilities, and not as much for its glowing yellow-green paint and sensational noise. It is easy to think the appearance is the only use of something, but never for a purposeful piece of equipment.
If you misuse a tool or do not properly care for it, it rusts out, breaks down, or becomes useless. The same is true of people like Ed, Sarah, Maddie or Samantha who have subconsciously abused themselves simply by not realizing what their bodies are. Yes, Maddie was right, partially. “Make the best of this” doesn’t mean throwing away the only body you have. There is a tomorrow. And there is a forever.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. (II Corinthians 2:6-11)
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:12-16)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
No comments:
Post a Comment