Teacups and Toasters

This post is a little personal. However, I was reading a passage in 1 Corinthians recently and it re-enforced something that I already knew. It was something that I needed to hear again and I know that I’m not the only one that can directly benefit from it.

When I was in middle school and high school, I had some serious self-image issues. This is not an uncommon thing for girls and perhaps guys experience it in some ways too. Media bombards us with images of what is considered beautiful, attractive, sexy, etc. etc. And unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people base their opinions of others and of themselves on what the media says is hot. It’s hard not to. I never really based my opinions of others on what the media said, but it sure didn’t help me when I looked at myself in the mirror.

I’ve always been tiny. I think perhaps the Scottish based legends and myths on the appearance of my ancestors. People used to think I was about five years younger than I actually was. I remember specifically, an instance wherein, I went out to eat with my parents and one of my friends. When we were seated the waitress brought my parents and friend regular glasses and she gave me a kids cup with a lid. I was around fourteen.

(Embarassing, but true!)

The issue with being a tiny person never went away. I struggle to maintain a healthy weight even though I eat like a shark. I just have to deal with it and I’ve learned to deal with it. Yet, I didn’t learn to deal with it via some self-promotional, inner-awareness book. I didn’t learn to love me. I’ve learned to deal with me and work to make myself more like my Creator. In doing so, I’ve learned a very very glad thing.  One day my Creator, Jesus Christ, will give me a new body, that He has designed just for me. Certainly, He designed the one that I reside in now, but it’s only a temporal one. He’s got an eternal one for me and for all who call on Him.

“But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”

³⁶You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;

³⁷and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

³⁸But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

³⁹All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.

⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.

⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

1 Corinthians 15

When we die, we will shed our earthly bodies, as if shedding a coat and with Christ we will reside. We have a spiritual body. Though it may resemble the former, it will be heavenly and is not the same one that we now wear.

***NOTE:  (DO NOT SEEK DEATH! If you are unhappy with your body image, death is not the answer. God holds the plans for our life here on Earth and He has given us our earthly bodies for a reason, whether, or not we like them. Believe it, or not God wants us to enjoy being in them. Check your five senses. He gave them for good reasons.)

We should take care of the bodies that we have because they are to be a temple to the living God, but don’t take care of it in vanity. Don’t spend much time worrying over the size and shape and complexion. Be content and know that your Creator has made you beautiful.