A Healthy Body

Mark Tennant

I am not a bodybuilder, nor am I a D-1 athlete. I do not have a six-pack, and I can do no more than a grand total of twenty-two pushups. (I just verified that number, and my elbow popped every time.) However, though I am not in Olympic shape, I am in good health and fitness. I work out through dance for 2-3 hours every day, plank for a minute each morning, and try to eat with a balance of cottage cheese, Caesar salads, leftover Zaxbys fries, and Cadbury mini eggs. What I'm getting at here is that my body is relatively healthy.

Lots of people want to have a healthy body. Girls want the spring break bikini bod! Guys want to be jacked so that maybe that chick will go to prom with them. Moms want to lose that baby fat from three pregnancies ten years ago. Dads keep saying they'll go on a diet, then eat midnight peanut butter and jelly. Almost everyone claims to want to get in shape. Thousands of people set fitness as a New Year's resolution. Very few people, however, actually follow through.

I would suggest that the reason so many people find it impossible to keep up with resolutions, particularly those regarding health and fitness, is that they are doing it for the wrong reasons. Deep down, I want to look like a model as much as anyone else. I probably spend too much time thinking about how to make myself prettier and not enough time appreciating the body and face I have. The thing about fitness, however, is that it takes time to see physical changes in your body. Time is something we run short on, and most of us don't have the patience to see physical change, so we give up. Pursuing health because of vanity is neither worthwhile nor sustainable.

Three weeks ago, I sprained my foot. At the moment, I thought I could walk it off, so I performed six cardio-heavy high-impact shows of Alice in Wonderland with only a little ice and Meloxicam. Now, I'm wearing the ugliest orthopedic boot you've ever seen, holding back tears while everyone else gets to dance, and I do not. Having a healthy body is not just about looking a certain way. Having a healthy body is about what your body can do. 

My body is strong. When in good health and uninjured, my body can sprint a half mile to help get cousins out of a burning field. My body can help bring in my grandparents' groceries. My body can spring into action to provide CPR to someone. My body can carry kids over mud puddles. My body can walk to and from classes, and across college campuses. My body can land triple pirouettes and support itself so that a partner can lift me. My body can dive into a freezing cold river to drag out my sister, who can't swim. My body is not supermodel skinny, and it is not bodybuilder jacked, but my body is strong enough to take care of the people I love.

That is why being in shape matters. That is why fitness matters. Because if your body is morbidly obese, or if you are making yourself throw up everything you eat in pursuit of an impossible physique, your body cannot do the important things it was meant to do. I do not say this from a place of judgment, but a place of love, concern, and encouragement. 

This weekend, my grandfather fell. He is in poor health, with unmanaged diabetes and difficulty walking. Though I am not a doctor, I have watched his decline and know that lots of his issues stem from choices not to take care of himself or his body. When he fell, he severely fractured his leg and had to have surgery. I am concerned that because of the choices he made regarding his body in the past, he may not be able to fully recover. I am concerned for everyone's health, because everyone has a body, and if we do not take care of it, it can be damaging to our quality of life. 

Scripture says that our bodies are temples of the Lord, and that we should respect them as such. This doesn't just mean having sexual purity. It means fueling our bodies with foods that are good for it, and enjoying what God has provided for us to eat. I am addicted to eating Cheezits, but I also seek proteins and sugars that will actually support my body throughout my day. Treating your body as a Temple means not starving it. Treating your body as a Temple means working to build strength and health to support your daily actions, but also taking rest days to allow your body to recover. Treating your body as a Temple means clothing it in a way that is glorifying to the Lord. It means not cutting your body. It means keeping your body physically clean and hygienic. 

I understand that there are exceptions to everything I am saying. There are people with health conditions that physically disable them from working out. My own brother has an unfortunate genetic lot and is extremely underweight because of his history. However, he is constantly in pursuit of catching up to other kids his age and taking care of his body and lungs as best he can. 

Your body matters. Not because of how sexy it looks in your Instagram post, but because of the fact that your body enables or disables your ability to love the people and community around you. If you are glorifying the Lord through your body, you should be aiming to take care of your body in a way that allows you to love your neighbors well. Healthy bodies are important. Not just for Olympic athletes, not just for Instagram models, but for everybody.