Five Ways to Love Your Body Better
Okay BAES, self-reflection time.
What’s your favorite physical thing about your body?
What’s your least favorite thing about your body?
Now, which of those two questions were you quicker in answering?
For me, my favorite thing is my smile. My least favorite thing is definitely my tummy. And answering my least favorite thing about myself has been the easiest question for me to answer since I was like… 5 years old.
I was a chubby kid growing up. And the roots of my self-esteem grew into this idea that I was, and forever would be, chubby.
Even when I wasn’t chubby, the voice inside my head still told me I was huge. I remember starting to count calories at eight. Thankfully, God’s grace never let that get out of hand. In high school, I was a multi-sport athlete, but I never looked in the mirror thinking my body was beautiful. In college, I was working out six days a week and did half-marathons, and Spartan races, but I still couldn’t bring myself to believe that this is the image God intended for me.
My breaking point was April 2019, where I was so frustrated with my body image that I noticed I wasn’t even looking myself in the mirror. It was at this point the Holy Spirit tugged at my heart, saying, What you have been telling yourself isn’t the truth of who you are. This is yet another battle I have already won for you.
In a culture that has normalized gluttony and fad diets as much as it’s normalized the expectation of looking a “that” way, it’s no surprise that loving our bodies has had its challenges. And as we unpack this multifaceted battle, know that the key to loving your body isn’t the outcome of the perfect workout and diet, but rather a blend of the physical discipline as well as the emotional, mental, and most importantly - spiritual.
It was April 2, 2019 I wrote the following letter to my future self
“On the days you forget why you started the journey”
Jonah - When was the last time you looked at yourself and felt content with your body, as though you had nothing to be ashamed of? That this is the temple of the holy spirit, you are fearfully and wonderfully made? Your body is a battleground, a new grounds of praise and worship. So it is high time to treat it as so - another way to die to your flesh.
Seriously, you can’t do it without the empowerment of the holy spirit to discipline you and transform you to the way you were meant to be. So don’t live in shame any longer. you serve a God of new beginnings, so cheers to yours.
Jo
I’m not fully there when it comes to 100% loving my body, but I’m so much closer than I was over a year ago. Since then, I’ve tried hundreds of different kinds of workouts, got my degree in Kinesiology, Personal Trainer Certification and Nutrition. But as much as I have learned and experienced, the one fact remains that there is no easy way to do this on your own, you need to let God in.
It’s a tough journey to learn to love your body and honor it. It is full of trial and error, not a one size fits all approach, and it takes a whole lot of grace and patience. But you are not alone. And to you I give the five truths that I ground myself in when the going gets tough.
Five Truths to Love Your Body Better
You are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God
(Psalms 139:14, Genesis 1: 27)
Look yourself in the mirror and say it out loud. Say it over and over again, grasping the parts of you that you have resented, and allow God to open your eyes to see and accept them as a piece of who you are. And daily, allow God to do so and restore inside of you the lies the enemy has told you that “this part” wasn’t lovable. You’re 100% lovable. Even that lil tum tum/back fat/underarm jiggle/cellulite.
Love is patient. Love is kind.
(1 Corinthians 13:4)
This verse is traditionally what you quote over your significant other, what you hear at the wedding, but girl THIS. IS. FOR. YOU. So many people out there are telling you to “love your body”, but this word is so watered down, we forget what it means.
Read the iconic “love is” passage of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in the perspective of loving yourself and the body God has given you. Are you kind to your body for where it is right now? Kind in the sense that you respect it for all it does for you- breathing, digesting, restoring, healing, carrying you through your days.
Are you patient with the process of becoming and transforming into the body that God intended for you to have? Often, people are quick to jump on the bandwagon of a 12-week shred, a 3 week keto diet, the Beyoncé lemon-water plan and be unsatisfied when they round back to where they were.
But be intentional with God and allow Him to break the desire of a fast fix and be patient and kind to your body. You deserve it.
Your body is the temple of the holy spirit.
(1 Corinthians 6:19)
I think we often forget just how sacred our bodies are. Honey, living inside of you is the HOLY. SPIRIT. Does that ever occur to you? Like for me.. if I had a house that was meant for Park Seo Joon or Zach Efron, I would make sure it was looking eat-off-the-floor-if-you-want clean.
In the same way, our bodies are the house that is meant for the Holy Spirit to reside. How are you cleaning it on the daily? Are you feeding yourself with food that are nutritious? Are you exercising to make sure that your systems can run? “Clean” well, and clean daily. The Holy Spirit deserves a good home.
Whatever you eat or drink, do it for the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 10:31)
Literally. I can say no more on this.
His mercies are new every morning; the old has passed the new has come
(Lamentations 3:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
Many people get into this habit of comparison. Comparing yourself to who you once were, comparing yourself to who you should be, comparing yourself to others. But when it comes to health and fitness, God’s mercies are new every morning. His mercy over who you are able to become today, a totally new creation! Stop holding yourself to who you once were, and allow yourself to become the person you are to be.
I hope that this inspires you to give yourself another chance, and another, and another when it comes to your health and fitness, because, BAE, you deserve it, 100%. It’s my hope and prayer that this changes your perception on how you see yourself and how to be a better you. Stay on the lookout for some fun tips and workouts with your fellow BAES!
<3 Jo