Last Sunday my 5 year old grandson decided he'd rather play with his belly than with the cars in his bag. He leaned back in the pew, pulled up his shirt and proceeded to squeeze and poke and make faces with his chubby little belly. While I, being Nana, reached over and pulled his shirt down, a few minutes later it was up again...isn't it funny how little it takes to occupy a pre-schooler sometimes?
And then the thought hit me, perhaps he has the perfect self image. He's forever telling us that he's strong and showing off his muscles but the bottom line is he is perfectly content with how he looks. So we're not born with doubt, we learn it.
It's seems everyone today has issues with some part (or perhaps all) of their body. Too fat, too thin, too short, too tall, not pretty enough, don't like my nose, my hair, my weight, my feet, my legs...you get the picture. Although we should all eat sensibly and get as much exercise as possible, body image is an obsession in society today. And that's not what God intended...He made us in His image...He tells us that our bodies are a temple but other than that, He's not too specific. God doesn't dictate beauty as being this height and this weight with this hair color and this skin tone with a certain type of nose and hands, He made us...end of story. Oh, He also says repeatedly in Genesis that He made this or that and "it was good"...so God believes in His creation but we constantly want to change it to fit the image that Hollywood dictates.
Don't know about you but I think I'm going to work on appreciating the wonder and beauty that is me as God made me and not listen to those who get paid to belittle me because I don't fit a certain criteria.
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