Pudge

One of Stephen's sisters, Jessica, is expecting her first baby in May. She posted a picture of her pregnant self on myfamily.com (a website Stephen's family uses to post news and pics and just keep in touch with each other). Jessica mentioned how much she has never loved her body more than she does now. Her mom (my Mother-in-law, who raised 8 children) responded with this:

"I remember once a long time ago being sick as a dog and nice hot bath to help me relax and thinking as I looked at myself lying there in the tub...how much I liked my pudgy little body and how many good things it had done for me, not the least of which was produce all these children. And I felt such affection for my
little body...how fast it ran, how many trees it climbed, how many times it carried and nurtured and
delivered sweet little babies, how much work it has done over the years.
Verda Risenmay is in the nursing home, not likely ever to come out. I see her and her shriveled little body and think how many years she has lived and how hard she has worked....now she is just so tired. I guess we'll get that way too,but how nice it is to contemplate having a resurrected body someday. And it will be this very body that I am quite attached to and so grateful for."

Isn't this perspective just so refreshing?! Sometimes our society is so confused - people think we need to look a certain way to feel good about ourselves - and if we don't, well, there are all kinds of solutions to that. If we just get this surgery or that hairstyle or those clothes, then we will feel confident in our own skin! But I just think this gets us chasing after the wrong thing, and we'll never feel totally satisfied.

I just love how she found "affection" for her body because of the GOOD it had done for her! Sometimes I think I get distracted by pudge and stretch-marks and sags and wrinkles (yes I have them all, in case you're wondering) that I don't see my body for what it is -- a vehicle to do good. And THAT is how I can really love the skin I am in -- pudge and all.