'A Living Sacrifice'

'And so, dear brothers & sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is the way to truly worship him. Don't copy the behaviours & customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.'
Romans 12v1-2 (NLT)

I read this verse today. I've been trying to improve my reading of the bible (Let's face it, I have A LOT of improvement in this area!) by doing a selection of plans, of which this one was part of a plan about food, a subject of which I've struggled with in the past. This is particularly in the way that it affects image.

As a biomedical science student, I can ramble of a million reasons about maintaining an 'ideal' size, body fat %, BMI etc. is good for your health, risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes. I can even understand the processes involving the storage of fats in the adipose cells. But this can also be a good excuse for your looks to become an obsession. In the 21st century we're thrown with images of stick thin celebrities and people who are anything higher than a size 6 being defined as 'curvy' with anything higher than a 12 being 'plus size'. Attractiveness is defined by BMI, which has been shown in studies to be shown at around a BMI of 20.

Being a size 10, I've felt the pressure to lose weight. I'm by no means overweight but I've been called 'fat' or been told I could 'lose a few pounds' to make clothes look better on me. Comments like this can easily make image become a lifestyle, constantly dieting, refusing food, leading to binging sessions and inevitable guilt. Whilst this is an obsession, we can so easily lose sight of the things we should be living for, we aren't looking to God if we're constantly looking to image and the conformation of others to find fulfilment. We cannot be fully satisfied by earthly things. I truly believe this. Things can satisfy for a short time and then, we're looking for something new to fill the void. This isn't the life that God has intended for us. The best way to find this is by placing everything into him, including ourselves.

Having struggled with this, I really struggled to read this today, and God would have known that. It's so easy to be paranoid about being the 'fat- friend' or being perceived as unattractive. But the best thing to do is Give it to God.

Don't fret over the little things ;)

XOX