“Let the King be enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord.” Psalm 45:11

New Perspective

In high school while on an all-girls team, we were given physicals by female coaches. The coach weighed us and gave us strength and mobility tests.  What I didn’t anticipate was the words spoken to me would stick with me for life. The coach looked me over and said, “You are fine except for this small area by the top side of your thighs.” She said I needed to work on reshaping them and losing weight. I was 95 pounds at the time! These words forever changed me. To this day when I look in the mirror I see that curvy area she pointed out and it bothers me. I know now that I shouldn’t have let those words stick, as I allowed her perception to dictate how I would think about my body. 

Fast forward to today. I have put on some extra weight with the aging process. At times I have been very discouraged but have done my best to keep exercising, make good food choices and accept that I am beautiful just as God intended. But why in the back of my thoughts do I sometimes long for a slimmer body like when I was young? I constantly battle my thoughts trying to accept these changes and move on.  

Recently at my annual physical I brought up my weight gain with my doctor. He looked at me and then looked at my chart and said, “You’re not overweight, you are the same weight you were one year ago!” I tried to be more knowledgeable than him and I reminded him that yes, I am overweight for my height. He again said, “No, you aren’t, and you’re in the perfect range with your BMI” (body mass index). I was in shock! For the past five years I have been beating myself up and discouraged. His words that day changed my perspective! I saw myself in a new light and I felt freer and happy! No, I’m not going to ditch my walking shoes and eat junk all day, but I began to see myself in a different way. Just those few little words of encouragement made a huge difference!

I began to think about how many words I could have casually spoken to others that may have deeply hurt them or stuck with them forever. I may have moved on, but my words still linger in their minds. Or what words maybe I shared that encouraged them in a positive way, drawing them to a deeper place with the Lord. “The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His Word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2).

“Dear Lord, please help us to encourage others with positive words of truth, knowing that each word we speak has value and purpose that can change people and their perspectives forever. Help us to keep Your Words in our heart. Amen.”