Sunday night was our final discussion group for Living Beyond Yourself, a 10-week interactive Bible study by Beth Moore on the fruit of the spirit. The final fruit-attribute was self-control, and in typical Beth-fashion, she took us on a journey during the video portion that I was not at all expecting.
Wouldn't you know she'd choose to talk about what we do - and do not - put in our mouths on the very night we had a potluck (in celebration of the completion of the study)?
But it was so much more than that - so much so that I've been mulling it over in my mind every since.
It goes without saying that women are under a lot of pressure - from the media, Hollywood, Paris runways, and the like - to conform to an image where thin - and only thin - will do. This very pressure drives many in one of two severe directions: not eating enough or eating too much ("I won't ever look like Kiera Knightley, so why try?"). As a society, we have a seriously warped view of an acceptable body image for a woman. (I realize there are exceptions, of course, so hold the stones, please.)
I've been re-reading Anne of Green Gables, and upon meeting her bosom friend, Diana, Anne proclaims that Diana is "fatter" than her - and this is meant as a compliment, as Anne considered herself dreadfully skinny and ugly because of her size. She went on later to talk about how her friendship with Diana was helping her put on some pleasing weight and gain dimples in her elbows.
I dare say that a 21st century Anne might have tried to concoct a way to help Diane shed a few.
Somehow we, as women, need to get a handle on how we view this thing that houses our souls!
Beth called it finding our freedom size, the size where you are not in bondage to calorie counting OR over-indulging. She recalled a conversation she had with a former beauty queen (she'd seen the weight spectrum from 4 to 14) who said that while she could be a size 4 or 6 (and her husband preferred that), she was in bondage at that size because she couldn't stop thinking about everything she put in her mouth - every calorie, every fat gram. Nor could she be a size 14 and be free because then her eating was out of control. Her size of freedom was a 10*. There she found balance in her eating and fitness pursuits.
So, what if we ate for health and nutrition, but didn't read every label? What if we exercised because we love it and know that it's good for us, not because we are weighing ourselves morning and night with fear of gaining an ounce?
I too have been at both end of the bondage spectrum. And at this point I am still not sure what my freedom-size is.
But what I do know is that I don't want to be in bondage to this. I want to be healthy and balanced - eating to live, not living to eat (or not eat, as the case may be) - enjoying the good gifts God's given with the proper perspective.
God created us, and He said it was very good. Isn't it time we started to really believe that, no matter what Hollywood says our scale should read?
Will you join me?
*It may have been an 8, but you get the point :).
Wouldn't you know she'd choose to talk about what we do - and do not - put in our mouths on the very night we had a potluck (in celebration of the completion of the study)?
But it was so much more than that - so much so that I've been mulling it over in my mind every since.
It goes without saying that women are under a lot of pressure - from the media, Hollywood, Paris runways, and the like - to conform to an image where thin - and only thin - will do. This very pressure drives many in one of two severe directions: not eating enough or eating too much ("I won't ever look like Kiera Knightley, so why try?"). As a society, we have a seriously warped view of an acceptable body image for a woman. (I realize there are exceptions, of course, so hold the stones, please.)
I've been re-reading Anne of Green Gables, and upon meeting her bosom friend, Diana, Anne proclaims that Diana is "fatter" than her - and this is meant as a compliment, as Anne considered herself dreadfully skinny and ugly because of her size. She went on later to talk about how her friendship with Diana was helping her put on some pleasing weight and gain dimples in her elbows.
I dare say that a 21st century Anne might have tried to concoct a way to help Diane shed a few.
Somehow we, as women, need to get a handle on how we view this thing that houses our souls!
Beth called it finding our freedom size, the size where you are not in bondage to calorie counting OR over-indulging. She recalled a conversation she had with a former beauty queen (she'd seen the weight spectrum from 4 to 14) who said that while she could be a size 4 or 6 (and her husband preferred that), she was in bondage at that size because she couldn't stop thinking about everything she put in her mouth - every calorie, every fat gram. Nor could she be a size 14 and be free because then her eating was out of control. Her size of freedom was a 10*. There she found balance in her eating and fitness pursuits.
So, what if we ate for health and nutrition, but didn't read every label? What if we exercised because we love it and know that it's good for us, not because we are weighing ourselves morning and night with fear of gaining an ounce?
I too have been at both end of the bondage spectrum. And at this point I am still not sure what my freedom-size is.
But what I do know is that I don't want to be in bondage to this. I want to be healthy and balanced - eating to live, not living to eat (or not eat, as the case may be) - enjoying the good gifts God's given with the proper perspective.
God created us, and He said it was very good. Isn't it time we started to really believe that, no matter what Hollywood says our scale should read?
Will you join me?
*It may have been an 8, but you get the point :).
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