Today is the Day

Have you ever had one of those conversations with someone that frees them and frees you, too?  They are talking about something in their own realm of life that has no direct impact on you, but somehow it resonates so deeply with you that you can’t but thank God for the moment of wonder and insight?

This happens to me often when I am talking to clients.  It’s amazing how, if you ask good questions, people really will answer and sometimes the answers blow my mind!  It’s amazing how much wisdom, humility, and perspective can be gained by just listening.  

Today, when talking about her Vision Statement, one of my clients dropped this bomb on me:

Today is the day “I get to…”

Today is the day I get to love myself body, mind and soul. 

Today I get to celebrate all that my body can do by moving joyfully through my day.

Today I get to taste how good is my God  from my tastebuds to my innermost parts.

Today I get to ask, receive, and accept help for my struggles. 

I get to come with my wins AND losses.

Today is the day I experience being fearfully and wonderfully made.

(shared with permission)

She had tears in her eyes as she read her Vision to me because it was a complete 180° from where she had started.  As we dug in, she revealed that her biggest mental and emotional shift had come when she came to grips with the fact that her body is a living temple with which she is privileged to honor our Lord. Notice the subtlety…not a living temple to honor, but a living temple to use to honor our Lord.

Realizing the amazing gift that she had to lay down at His Feet changed her whole perspective on Health and Wellbeing.  Instead of a list of things that she felt she “had” to do, she now had a method of showing God honor by worshiping Him with her body. 

I learned so much about myself from listening to her own conversations with God.  I realized how often I have the attitude of burden: I have to workout, I have to make a healthy dinner for the family, I have to work diligently, I have to do my morning quiet time, I have to reach out to that friend…the list goes on and on.  The burden of being a good wife, a good mom, a good coach, a good friend, a good daughter, a good Christian becomes unbearable and I feel myself sinking under the weight.  

And yet Jesus promises us that I should come to Him because his yoke is easy and His burden is light!  I should be finding rest for my soul!  So, what gives?

(see Matthew 11:28-30)

What gives is that I am focusing on my works.  What gives is that I am trying to juggle it all.  What gives is that I am trying to find the solutions in my own strength.

I recently rewrote my own Vision Statement, and one of the areas of focus for me was “expansive vulnerability.”  What the heck does that mean, you ask?  I am still not 100% sure, but the words came from the feeling that instead of trying to fix all of my unknowns, unsures, and unpalatables, I am going to let myself sit vulnerably in them with Jesus.  I am just going to be IN it WITH Him.  Instead of pushing on all of the things that cause me unease or discomfort to try to force a solution, I am going to let that feeling open up and expand in His presence.  

I have been practicing this for a few weeks now, and I am relearning something that I already knew in my head but had forgotten in my heart: He.  Shows. Up.  And, He always shows up with an answer.  Sometimes it’s yes, sometimes it's no, and sometimes it’s just “keep waiting with me in this vulnerable place,” but He always answers.

So, as a part of my expansive vulnerability, I am going to celebrate the fact that we love THE God of creation and we get to be in relationship with Him. 

Instead of today being the day I HAVE to, it instead became the day I GET to.

Instead of today being the day I have to fix and improve myself, it becomes the day I get to love myself as a daughter of God.

Instead of today being the day I have to eek out time to workout, it becomes the day that I get to rejoice in the body God had made for me and to celebrate that craftsmanship through movement.

Instead of agonizing over which foods I should eat or not eat, it becomes the day I get to taste the goodness of God by mindfully experiencing the flavors, delights, and secrets He has to offer.

Instead of stressing and angsting over struggles, it becomes the day that I can confidently ask Him for help, trust that He will answer, and openly embrace His answer to my challenges.

Instead of approaching Him like a disapproving boss, it becomes the day I can vulnerably approach Him as a Father and lay my heart bare for Him.

Today is the day I can experience being fearfully and wonderfully made.

Originally posted on HerHealthHerFaith on October 1, 2023