When I was in college, I had an assignment in my Art For The Elementary Teacher class to construct something that showed a change between "fantasy and reality." I created a life-size paper-mache horse mask that turned into a glittery unicorn when you inserted the horn up through an opening in his head. It's huge and unwieldy, but I was quite proud of it (got an A+), and even though I took that class nearly 2 decades ago, the horse head is still in our basement and has followed us through two moves. My husband even wore it when our son was 2 and dressed as a cowboy for Halloween - letting Jack upon his back in a "horsey-back" ride while they went trick-or-treating. :)
This is a masterpiece to me - it might not be the prettiest thing to you, but I worked hard on it! But what if my horse had a mind of it's own... the free will to make it's own choices? Even though I spent hours... days!!... crafting him with my own two hands, what if the horse decided that I really didn't know what I was doing after all? What if the horse was positive that what I really meant to create was this:
I would be frustrated, angry even! That's not what I meant to create! I CREATED what I meant to create! I smoothed on the paper-mache. I brushed the strokes of paint. I attached the long, black mane! I didn't mean for a green mane, or a hoop pierced through my horse's face, or pink, bloodshot eyes. I certainly didn't mean for pink zebra stripes to mar his majestic face!
A friend of mine posted this crazy-disturbing link to people who have mutilated their bodies with extreme piercings, full-body tattoos, and something horrendous called "scarification-cutting" where people carve and brand pictures into their skin! These pictures make me sad. I can't imagine the pain receiving these mutilations - and I can't imagine the pain that person might be in who felt they NEEDED these "adjustments" to their bodies.
And I couldn't help but wonder what God thought of these "improvements" to his masterpieces...
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) says, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Deuteronomy 32:4 (NIV) says, "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."
God doesn't make mistakes. God doesn't CREATE mistakes. When Adam and Eve allowed sin into their lives, they paved the way for all kinds of sin to creep into ours. And while we have the free will to mar and mutilate our bodies in a whole variety of ways, or choose activities and actions that blatantly go against the teachings of the Bible, or assure ourselves that "God" was the wrong one, it doesn't make it true. And it doesn't make it okay.
I struggle with weight. I fluctuate between 4 different sizes depending on how I take care of this body. I can blame a low metabolism (yeah, I don't actually have this), fast food restaurants (French fries are such a weakness!), the rain (it's too depressing to exercise), the sun (it's too hot to exercise), God-"made"-me-love-food (so it's not my fault), my skinny friends (why can they eat anything and I can't?!!), whatever. The bottom line is that MY poor choices can turn this body into a blobby mushbag, and my wiser choices can help keep it working better and longer. The choices *I* exercise over this body are my responsibility alone. The choices *I* make to mar one of God's masterpieces are, again, my responsibility.
Perhaps if we start to view ourselves as being "fearfully and wonderfully" made, in God's image, we would be less likely to justify our poor choices that hurt and harm our bodies, and more likely to take ownership of the masterpiece we have been entrusted to care for.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
Psalm 139:13-16, The Msg
Take care of you,
:) Mags
