Body Image…”Image Is Everything”

Erica1 Comment

Last Sunday on Mother’s Day, our preacher gave a sermon entitled, “Holy Beauty.” We read some of the verses like 1 Peter 3:3, which talks about beauty not coming from “outward adornments such as the braiding of hair, gold jewelry, and fine clothes…” If you’re a person who grew up going to church, you probably know the types of verses I’m talking about.

But what I really appreciated about the sermon was that it included some honest thoughts about body image and perception, and about how much importance we give to how we physically look.

We talked about how everything around us, what we read, see and hear, can try to convince us that this is true – that how you look is the ultimate indicator of your worth. Our preacher mentioned Andre Agassi’s 1989 “Image is Everything” ad for the Canon Rebel camera – a clever slogan for a camera, but one that hits a little closer to home than maybe most of us would like to admit.

So, I’m here on my blog admitting that, yes, I am a person who is way too wrapped up in my physical appearance.

And I have read the bible verses hundreds, even thousands, of times that say that outward appearance doesn’t matter, and that God cares about your heart. A few years ago when I taught 6th grade reading, I assigned one of my classes to read “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio – (a great book by the way if you haven’t read it!) The whole story is about a 10-year old boy with facial deformities (or differences if you want a nicer word) and how he deals with feeling different and trying to fit in at his school.

There are tons of other stories out there with the moral of “what matters most is on the inside,” and yet here we are, still struggling with wanting to keep up appearances, wanting to be praised for our physical beauty.

I do believe that what matters most is what is on the inside, like your heart and your attitude. But I don’t think that physical appearance doesn’t matter at all… it matters at least a little bit, and therein lies my struggle.

Where is the line? How much does the outward appearance matter? How much can I allow myself to care about how I look before I have a problem? I have gone back and forth with this issue many times. Does this mean that I should forgo all makeup and hair products, because in using them I’m trying to (falsely) enhance my beauty? What does God think about makeup? What does God think about how much time I spend staring at myself in the mirror? What about if I avoid looking at myself in the mirror because I’m scared of what I’ll see?

I know that being a Christian means we are supposed to be (and look) different – we are supposed to be “lights” in the world. So how much of a light am I being these days? Or have I completely burned out?

I don’t think wearing makeup is wrong, I don’t think wanting to look nice is wrong. But I have been mulling it over this past week and trying to take an honest look at myself and decide if I need to make any changes. It’s hard to see things about yourself that you don’t want to, and I don’t mean in a mirror.

I know that I have an unhealthy obsession with physical appearance… if I’m honest. So that’s not really the question. The question for me is, “what now?” What do I do about that? Maybe for me, it could mean giving up makeup… Maybe it means staying away from social media because I can’t stop comparing myself to other people when I’m on it.

I think the biggest temptation for me will be to do nothing at all, despite knowing I should. It’s a lot easier to talk about making changes than to actually make them. I think a lot of us in churches are guilty of this – we like to talk about how we should change, but sometimes we don’t actually do it. We can easily convince ourselves that it’s not a big deal and go on with our lives.

For me, a lot of this issue is connected to my spirituality, and feeling a moral obligation to be beautiful not by human standards, but by God’s standards – but I’m interested to know what others might think about the issue of body image; especially others who either don’t believe in God or who belong to a different religion. Is this an issue you think about or struggle with?

Even if there’s not a spiritual component tied up in the issue for you, I think most people would still agree that it is an issue and a problem for a lot of people.

I’d like to write another post on my specific struggles with body image, though the idea of sharing that is very scary and brings up a lot of emotions for me, but I’m kind of on an honesty kick right now … so hopefully I’ll have that up soon!

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a podcast recommendation: The Liturgists have a very well done episode on body image that I hope you might take time to listen to:  http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2018/3/21/body-image 

Thanks for reading.

No One Cares About Your Blog

Erica3 Comments

Wow… a bit harsh, right?

Let’s be honest: when you see a friend who posts on Facebook that they’ve just started a blog, what are your first thoughts?

A. Yay, I can’t wait to read it!

B. Yeah, yeah, whatever, we’ve all got a really super special blog that everyone should read…

I’ll admit – sometimes my answer is ‘B’ more often than ‘A.’

I’m not just trying to rag on your blog… this is a look in the mirror for me too, or at least, an honest look at my stats.

To be honest with you, I don’t have that many readers. I have a set number in my head of readers that will make me feel like my post was a “success,” and anything below kind of makes me feel like, “what was the point?” Are you other bloggers like that?

It is kind of sad when you take the time to thoughtfully (or perhaps even not-so-thoughtfully) write out something and no one reads it. Maybe for you, your post represented an epiphany you had, and you wanted to share that with the world.

Maybe you had a horrible, gut-wrenching experience that you want to share with the world – not because you want to brag about it, or make people feel sorry for you, but to give that experience new meaning in your life – to take that horrible event and give it a purpose. Maybe you want your story to inspire or help someone else, and blogging is the way you share that with others.

Maybe blogging is a way to just write – to write out your feelings and thoughts and fears and hopes and dreams… and maybe you hope that someone, anyone out there, will read it and feel the same way you do. Maybe you just want one person to connect with, to tell you you’re not crazy and that they understand what you’re going through.

In general, I want to avoid blogging just to get readers. Don’t get me wrong, I love having readers and reading the comments people leave me… but I don’t want to get to the point where I write just for the stats alone. Because if I did that, I’d probably stop writing. Or my writing wouldn’t be “me” anymore – I’d lose my authenticity just for higher numbers.

Unless you’re a blogging superstar (and yes, I’ll admit, I’m a bit jealous…), not everything you write is going to have hundreds of readers. And just because something doesn’t have a lot of readers, doesn’t mean it is garbage. It’s easy to look at success or failure through popularity. I have to remind myself that even if no one reads my blog, I still benefit from writing it. I get a chance to think deeply about issues that matter to me, and challenge myself to be a better person. I get a chance to sort through my emotions and feel better by the time I hit “Publish.”

If you are someone that did read this post, I thank you. Whether you are the only person or the 10,000th person who read this post, thanks for reading. I know I just went on about how it doesn’t matter if I get any readers, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it still feels good to have people read what I write. It’s very honoring to know that people took time from their busy lives to read something that I wrote.

Because if we’re honest, we don’t like to give up our time for others. Or is that just me? A lot of the time, we’re too busy to make time for others. I’m too busy writing my own blog posts to read the ones that you have just finished writing. I’m too busy trying to be heard to take time to listen.

So – where does that leave us… or me, for that matter? If you’ve made it this far into this post, obviously you are a person who’s willing to make time for others. You’ve made time for me, and I’m honored that you did. Maybe you’re a lot more selfless than I am. Maybe I need to be more like you, and read the thoughts, fears, hopes and dreams of others around me.

Alright, well, this post took an unexpected turn and I think I’ll leave it at that.

Anyone want to recommend some new blogs for me to read?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Busiest I’ll Ever Be…

Erica1 Comment

Well friends, I am just about done with my first semester of grad school! I survived! (Though the online group project just about killed me…)

I have my last assignment due next Tuesday and then I get a three-week break until summer courses start! Those three weeks are going to be so amazing, I am already feeling less stressed now that most of my assignments are done!

I have to say, this is the busiest I have ever been in my life – I keep thinking at some point in my life the level of busy-ness will taper out, but so far that has not been my experience. When I was in college, I thought I was busy – and I couldn’t wait to graduate so I could be less busy.

While post-college life had less assignments and homework (until now), it did not prove to be less busy. Once I started teaching, I had never felt so busy or worked as hard! My first year teaching 2nd grade, I would spend hours and hours at home grading papers, I was tired all the time, I could never keep up!

Fast forward a few years to having a baby – I didn’t work during the first year of Calvin’s life, but I can assure you I felt like this would surely be the busiest and tiredest I would ever feel! Well… I was wrong yet again.

Here I am, working full-time, taking 6 graduate hours, and balancing life with a husband and almost-two year old… and despite being wrong in the past, I have convinced myself that surely THIS will be the busiest I will ever be in my life!

Is anyone else’s life panning out this way? Do you find yourself just waiting and looking forward to the times when you aren’t busy? Do you ever wish the next few weeks or months were already over? Do you try to catch your breath in the few unplanned hours or minutes of each week before plowing full steam ahead into the next one?

We recently had a reunion with our Re-Engage group- we hosted dinner at our house. (See my previous post about our Re-Engage experience.) We decided to go around and have every couple share how things were going in their marriage, post-Re-Engage. Almost every single person talked about how busy things were, and for some of us, we really noticed a negative effect on our marriages. I know for me, being so busy with school and work, I have certainly felt like I can’t find the time to do the things that were so strengthening to our marriage – things that we did while participating in Re-Engage. It’s hard to sincerely devote yourself to very many things, and as typically happens, sometimes we forsake important things (marriage, family, health) for urgent things (work, deadlines, homework.)

At that dinner we also discussed the concept of Sabbath – we discussed how hard it is these days to even take a few hours off to relax, and devoting an entire day to rest seemed practically impossible! It really got me thinking thought about why God required his people to take a Sabbath. I think sometimes we convince ourselves that the concept of a Sabbath is old and outdated, and that back then people didn’t have so many demands on their time like we do … but I think that is a myth. I think it’s a cop-out to not feel guilty for our busy-ness and to justify it by saying that’s just how our culture is.

I think God knows that being too busy hurts us – it hurts our relationships, our marriages, our families, our health even! Stress from being too busy can sometimes consume us – it makes us less patient, less Christ-like. We focus on the urgent and forget to take care of what’s most important – we get distracted. When I feel overwhelmed with busy-ness, I definitely don’t take care of myself the way I should – I don’t meditate, I don’t exercise, I don’t take time to pray or be with God.

I recognize all this, yet I feel so conflicted about how I could be less busy. I don’t want to give up my hobbies or time with friends – I don’t want to stop working or quit on grad school – I don’t want to give up being involved at my church when I feel called to do so. So what can I do to be less busy? What is God calling me to give up in my life so I can nurture the things in my life that are really important?

Today after work, I decided to try to find a few verses in the bible about busy-ness and here’s a few that stuck out to me:

Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 13:22 (Jesus explaining the parable of the Sower) – The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

I also found a great article online titled, “Busyness Is Not a Spiritual Gift.” It is a great read and really articulated some of the things I had been thinking about nicely. 

I think the next steps for me will be to really sort out my priorities and decide what is most important – then take a good look at my actions to see if they align with those priorities. As the article mentions, God might want me to get rid of some of the things that I really love, and even some things that are good, which is why this is so hard. But I think it comes down to having faith that God knows what is best, and that seeking Him first really will let the other things in my life fall into place.

There’s so much more I could say about this, but I will leave it at that for now. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you want to share.