We ARE Children of God

I recently learned of somebody dear to me treating themselves very badly. I'd like to avoid writing about the details but as I learned, I felt sadder than I may have ever felt in my life. I wondered what had happened to this person to make them even want to be so cruel to themselves. I cried and I prayed for their relief from what they may not even recognize as suffering. And I was beyond grateful for my understanding of the message in this simple children's hymn. We ARE all children of God. I don't know everything, but I do know that beyond any shadow of a doubt. And despite our different upbringings, trials, and circumstances... we can find peace in knowing that our bodies were not designed on accident. They were created in the imagine of God himself. They are glorified and powerful and deserve our respect.

Earthly Tabernacles

A professor at Utah State University begins each semester by showing a series of architectural marvels. He speaks about the amazing strength of the design and the workmanship in the building of these masterpieces. This is probably not an unusual occurrence in a classroom, however this is for a class on human anatomy. He concludes his architectural showcase by explaining that however amazing these structures are, the human body is infinitely more complex and perfectly made.

It amazes me to think about the things our bodies can do, and just do do, all of the time. In this age when so many of us criticize ourselves for not looking precisely like an airbrushed magazine I think that we need to teach our children and ourselves to truly appreciate the amazing gift of bodies that we have been given (as these great researchers have pointed out, "negative self talk" about ourselves is not only depressing, but actually has other detrimental results).

I know I do not have the "perfect" body by the world's standards, but I have really started thinking about how blessed I am. Some of the small things that I have been noticing that I usually take for granted are: singing lullabies, typing, playing instruments, walking, hugging, tasting delicious foods, hearing laughter, breathing (I'm not totally taking this for granted after just having a baby with croup!), a beating heart, and seeing others' smiles. I am certainly not saying that we don't want to make our body as healthy as we can through eating right and exercise, I just hope that we can all take a step back and really think about the gifts given to us by our Father in Heaven.

Photo Credit