1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 "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."
I think the original context of this scripture is referring to sexual immorality, and certainly we should honor God with our bodies in that way. But today, I'm reading it with a context of being physically fit. I have pretty much always been a thin person (give or take 2 pregnancies that I exploded with), but for most of my adult life, I've ranged between 120-135lbs. I'm 5'6", so this is pretty average for my height. However, I have also been pretty jiggly in all those places that no woman wants to be jiggly. Most recently, I have noticed the bat wing effect under my arms and that my butt and thighs don't stop moving when the rest of my body does. Now, granted, as I said before, I've had 2 children and I'm approaching my mid-30's. I've had 2 major surgeries on my head, gall bladder surgery, and a lumpectomy. I have a couple of attractive scars and stretch marks to reflect the joys God has brought to me during my 32 years. I was always pretty active in high school with sports, I played basketball, softball, and threw the discus and shot put in track. Back then, I was muscular. Since then, not so much.
My husband just returned from a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan. During those 6 months he worked out daily, lifting weights and running. He lost right at 30lbs and about 3 inches off his waist. We had to do an emergency shopping trip to get him some clothes that fit when he came home. He has a totally new outlook on taking care of his body and in that shadow, (and did I mention, he looks really good!!) I'm feeling a little insecure and less than mediocre about my own outlook.
In light of all this, we have decided to take on this new workout regemin, you may have heard of it, P90X. I think only mildly insane people can be excited about this task. We started Day One today. There are 3 different versions you can do, we are doing the "slightly less intense" version, called P90X Lean. Basically, you work out 6 days a week and each work out is between 50-90 minutes long, depending on which one you are doing that day. Did I mention you do a different type of workout each day?? They have workouts titled "Ab Ripper" and "Kenpo X"...I'm afraid. Very afraid. Anyway...today we started Day One. We had to take a before picture...Richard's was much more impressive..mine looked like one of those computer generated before pictures you see on TV ads for diet pills. I'm not going to share these beautiful testaments to the way I've treated my body over the last few years, but you get the idea.
So here's the deal. I'm making a commitment to change the way I treat my body..this gift, or temple, if you will, that God has created just for me to reside in for my duration on Earth. I want to be a better me. I want to be healthy and active and lean and toned...not lazy, sedentary and jiggly. I want my husband to be proud of my efforts and impressed by the results. I want to be proud of my efforts and impressed by the results. I want to be a good example to my children of what it means to respect the gift that God has given each of us in our bodies and what it means to honor Him with our bodies. Not just physically, but spiritually as well. You know, there is another scripture that seems to ruffle some feathers, but I'm going to mention it anyway. 1 Corinthians 7:4 is in reference to marriage, and says "A wife's body does not belong to her alone, but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone, but also to his wife." So yes, I am doing this for myself, but also for my husband. I want him to enjoy looking at ME and to desire ME. If I'm not taking care of myself and turn into a jiggly, unhealthy mess, is this a reflection of how I respect him as well?
So, I'm going to leave with this pledge...I am going to complete this 90 day workout. I'm going to eat healthy for the next 90 days. If I can complete 90 days of this, I can do anything. I'll decide what anything is at the end of this 90 days. I love my husband and I love myself. I want to make this goal.
