My husband got me the best gift this year for my birthday...the gift of choice. He set me loose to get myself a purse. I finally found one that I love. It's big, purple, and pleather.
I have gotten compliments on it everywhere from work to the grocery store, and, according to the girls in my life group it is the "it" bag of the fall season.
I love it.
But not everyone is sold on it yet. One person told me, "You know you can tell how high maintenance a girl is by the size of her purse."
At first I thought "oh, no...am I high maintenance?" And after thinking about for a while, and remembering my lower maintenance days...I've come to the conclusion that this is not a bad thing. Do I want to just be one of the boys?
gross.
But this blog is not about my purse...it's about maintaining.
You see there was a time, mostly in college, where I believe I was about as low maintenance as I will ever be. I wore very little makeup. My hair was about 2 inches long, which meant that I stepped out of the shower, ran my fingers through my hair and voila! Time for class. I went semesters without buying new clothes and most of my wardrobe consisted of thrift-store finds, hand-me-downs from friends and scored clothes from my older brothers closet. I even stopped shaving (legs and underarms) for months at a time.
And you know what I remember about those semesters, years...I didn't like myself very much.
I always felt less than, not in the sense of personhood. I had great friends and knew that I was gifted and exceeding in school. I felt ashamed of my bodily condition. I was trying to pay less and less attention to my appearance in order to dimenish its impact on my life. Trying to forget the wrapping of the package, neglecting the peel to focus more on the fruit.
But for some reason, God chose to make my this way. He decided with great care to craft my physical being into the shape, form and function of this body. God is having me live out this earthly life through my human body, whether I like it or not.
Even Jesus CHOSE to wrap Himself in flesh and walk among us, chose to indwell a body to bring intimate relationship and ransom us back to Him through a physical death on a cross.
So I guess there might be something to this body deal. Lessons to learn, pain to endure, joy to experience...all THROUGH my present form.
And I'm trying to look on my body with care, with gentle acceptance, and loving understanding. And perhaps by taking care and embracing life lived through and in my fingers, toes, brain, and back, maybe THAT can bring sanctity to the ordinary and worship to the mundane.
And my hairstyles, painted toes, toned muscles, and flattering, modest clothing can be a way of loving myself the way GOD has chosen to make me.
Call me high maintenance...I might just say AMEN!
Comments