«I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well» (Psalm 139:14).
As women, we live under constant pressure regarding our body image. While there is nothing wrong with being and feeling beautiful, when we place a disproportionate emphasis on appearance, we may lose emotional contact with our bodies. When we internalize the message of objectification, we start looking at ourselves from the outside, like the one who looks at a stained glass window. Instead of wondering how we feel, we wonder how we look. We learn to ignore the signals and messages of the body (the feet that say, «I don’t like how these shoes feel»; or the stomachache that says, «You have too much stress and need to rest») until we disconnect emotionally. We get out of tune and underestimate our ability to experience bodily sensations, believing that the most important thing is how we look.
Of course, it is impossible to go from ignoring the sensations of the body to being in perfect harmony in a matter of seconds. We can’t turn that connection on and off as if it were a light switch. We cannot relax and enjoy a day at the beach or the massage of warm sand against the skin if we are striving to hide the rolls. When we objectify the body, when we live «from the outside,» the enemy robs us of pleasure and experiences that God designed to give us joy. However, that’s not all: when we despise our bodies, we deny an essential part of the human experience. Our bodies are not walnut shells; they re not bad, nor are they useless. This is a pagan concept! When Jesus returns, we will receive incorruptible bodies. For reasons that we may only fully understand when we meet Jesus face to face, even our salvation depended on the incarnation of
Christ.
God created us with a body capable of experiencing countless sensations and communicating their needs. We were designed to enjoy a permanent connection with our body. Ellen G. White said that «between the mind and the body there is a mysterious and wonderful relation. They react upon each other.»—Counsels on Health, ch. 3, p. 122. Let us dare to reconnect emotionally with our bodies, to listen to them, to «live them from within.» After all, our bodies are not just beautiful; they are also capable, strong, and resilient.
Dear Lord, thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Please show me how to live harmoniously so that my mind and body aren’t fighting or ignoring each other. I want to serve you in body and soul.