Body Image: Practical Steps + Perspective Shifts
Two Saturdays ago I decided I was going to find something different to wear to church the next day and started digging through the closet. I tried on exactly three things and decided that I looked just like a walrus and might as well give up on life since I still had 12 weeks to go in this pregnancy. It’s only going to get worse, right? Obviously, drama never happens over here.
I walked the boys down to the playground a few hours later and was still thinking about the clothes. I decided that first of all, I had to stop referring to myself as a walrus, even just in my head. I’d never want my best friend to call herself a walrus and therefore I can’t call myself a walrus. (Simple rule for living: you too should stop calling yourself names.) Then I started thinking about all the pregnancy-related things I had to be thankful for. I’m so thankful for how healthy I am during pregnancy- to not be on bedrest, to be able to keep up with the boys and our life. I’m thankful to still be pregnant (which is why I’m getting bigger) and to not have a preemie in the NICU. I’m thankful that my body has been a healthy home for this baby so far.
It’s really hard to be too upset about clothes when I start looking at the big picture.
But I did put the clothes back in the closet. There’s almost always a practical step, y’all. When I got dressed for church the next morning I pulled out the same old things I’ve been wearing on repeat and wore them and felt just fine in them. I didn’t just wear the walrus clothes and try to “thank” my way out of that mess.
Body image really comes down to a heart issue. Of course I believe you should take care of your body. You can learn to dress well. You can learn to fix your hair and put on a little makeup and jewelry, if that’s your thing. (Practical steps, remember?) But ultimately you will always be waiting on something if you are only accepting yourself based on how you look. There will be those five pounds you want to lose, that cellulite, that mole you wish you didn’t have. You will have to wear glasses; you will still have the stretch marks; you will be gaining more wrinkles around your eyes. You will never live up the standard that the world portrays or that you hold in your mind.
Stop trying. Your body is not an ornament. You don’t have it to celebrate how attractive you are. Your body is here because we are physical beings and it’s our instrument for loving and serving others. Your body hugs, makes dinner, kisses boo-boos. It walk you down the street and it sings. Your body is the instrument you use to accomplish all you do. Everything you believe is lived out through your body.
That means that even if you wish it looked different, it’s still fulfilling its purpose. You can choose to be thankful for that just as I can be thankful for the way my body is growing this baby. Serving Jesus more is also a better motivation for exercising and eating well than just trying to be skinny. I absolutely promise being skinny will not fix your body image problems.
Right here, at 31 weeks pregnant, my life is more than my body. I might not fit into my favorite chambray shirt. I might not be real competition in a footrace. But God has given me a work to do and has provided the energy to do it and that’s really what matters. (And by the way, if for some health reason you can’t do those things then God hasn’t given them to you to do.)
Honestly, whatever the stage of pregnancy, whatever the size, whatever the ____________ you don’t like about yourself, confidence and a smile are killer. A thankful heart and hands for the work don’t hurt either.
