Minding The Body

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19,20

Honor God with your body. I suppose that could take on so many meanings, depending on the person who is reading it, couldn't it. Everyone has their own struggles that they deal with, I won't even list the possibilities, but you can, instead, make it your own.

It really makes you think, doesn't it. It says right here that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And from what we know of the Holy Spirit, that means that he is God, and that God is residing in our bodies. For real. When I just think of that, it scares me a little bit, but it also inspires me.

For the most part, over the last few years, I've really improved my..."self" for lack of a better word. I've started paying more attention to what I'm actually doing every day. I feel bad when I spend an entire day doing nothing- I just feel yucky and gross, like I totally wasted a day that I'll never get back. So one thing that I have done is paid more attention to what I am actually doing every day. As a stay at home mom, it sure could be easy to sit around and watch tv or surf the internet most of my days. But then I look around and my house is always trashed and there's always laundry waiting to be done, and kids clamoring for attention. So I don't sit around as much anymore. That's made such a difference to me. If someone called and said they were popping over, I could have the house presentable in just a short while, because I spend more time cleaning and keeping the dirt away. The laundry will never, ever totally go away, so I just make the most of doing it when I can. There are rare moments where I look around, decide the housework is not necessary and I allow a little time with a book or a project. But for the most part, God has really helped me to be mindful of what I'm doing. By focusing on Him and asking for His help, I no longer feel like a sloth.

This serves several purposes. One being that my house, my home is presentable for company, should company appear. Another being that after my husband is gone all week working hard, he doesn't have to come home on the weekend and spend it cleaning. And the third purpose it serves is to keep me active. I'm simply not a big exercise girl. I enjoy walking to get somewhere, and I don't mind working out- in fact, I really like step aerobics and weight training. But I simply don't have time for those things in my life right now. And I know, and God knows, that being active is key to being healthy. So He's blessed me with purpose. In the wintertime I get cold very easily. And when I've been doing something on the computer, I know I've been sitting too long when I start to get chilly. Rather than covering up with a blanket, I get up and do something. I do dishes, laundry, scrub a bathroom, or find a project that requires movement. When I move, I warm up, and even better, something gets done. I'm honoring God with my body by not sitting around all day long. I try and keep busy, and I am mindful of how what I am doing can bring honor to God- or not. Does my work online bring glory to God? I have no idea, I can only pray that it does, but I need to be mindful of how much time I spend sitting in this chair.

I've also improved my diet greatly, and subsequently, my families diet. We've always eaten with a mind towards health, but there was far too much of the bad stuff. A donut run happened every Saturday morning, and come late morning, we'd all feel like we needed a nap. God showed me a few things about blood sugar, and before long, we were cutting out those donuts, and now our Saturday's are much more productive. We still do donuts every once in a while, but more as a treat than a regular occurrence. We've cut out most all preservatives from our diet as well, and I have to tell you that overall as a family we feel much better. Zander hasn't had an asthma attack in a few years, and when both kids get sick they recover much faster than before. God recently led me to discover that meat preservatives were causing migraines in my body. I have been blessedly migraine free ever since then, and I'm loving that! I'm loving God for showing me that! By honoring God with my body, He is showing me things that will help my body to perform better and to feel better. Most recently I have felt like I needed to reduce my dairy consumption. I've cut it out almost completely, and for the first time in years, I have my usual late summer allergies, but they're little more than an annoyance. I haven't had to take pills to function, and I'm certain now that eating a lot of dairy has made the allergies worse over the years.

God gave me the Holy Spirit to help guide me in my daily life, and I follow what he tells me all the time. When I feel like I'm having a lazy day and I need to do something, the Spirit fills me with the motivation to get something done. Most recently, I think He's working with me on sleep. I've been sleeping so poorly, but I've been functioning well throughout the day regardless (maybe with a little coffee help sometimes.) I really think that the Spirit is telling me that I've been getting too much sleep. By honoring God with my body in the first place, each time I feel the Spirit guiding me towards a more healthy routine, it's easier to hear and pay attention to. When I first made that decision to not be lazy anymore, the Spirit filled me up with motivation and has helped me to make wise decisions ever since. I need to pay attention to this new message I'm getting about sleep. With the return of school, less sleep is a certainty. I've always been a sleeper though- 9 hours was the perfect amount of sleep for me. But if I can get away with less sleep and still feel fine throughout the day, imagine how much more I could accomplish! Imagine how much more time I'll have to spend with God if I can just let go of one more hour of sleep time.

I want to honor God with absolutely every facet of my body. I want to keep the bad out and let the good in- in every way. As the verse says above, I am not my own, and I pray that God will continue to work with me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide me towards the choices I need to make, and that they will benefit not just myself, but my family and those around me as well.