Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Love Your Nakedness!
Chloe is at the age where she is fascinated by her body and thoroughly enjoys being naked. She took off all of her clothes the other day as she was getting ready for a bath. She proceeded to do her naked dance, which she does every time she is completely naked, and then loudly yells to her brother, "Blake! LOOK AT MY NAKEDNESS!" She was so proud of her little body and I laughed so hard. She thinks her body is pretty cool because it's learning to do all sorts of tricks lately. For the past few days she has been telling everyone to watch because she can now hop on one foot (sort of). She thinks it's neat that she can jump, skip and twirl. And it got me thinking . . . at what point did we stop loving our bodies like a little child does and we started criticizing every flaw? Why can't we love our bodies like we did when we were little? Why does society and magazines have to dictate what makes a perfect body? I bet Heavenly Father shakes his head when we pick out the flaws on our perfect bodies. Look at the miracle they are! Look at what they can do! So what if I have cellulite and vericose veins on my legs -- I can walk and get around and accomplish so much with them! I was at the grocery store the other day and saw a young mom in a wheelchair. She was grocery shopping while trying to coax her toddler aged son along side her. Can you imagine how hard it must be for her to grocery shop without being able to contain her child in a grocery cart? I thought of how difficult ALL of her tasks must be without the use of her legs! I'm grateful for mine! And even though my stomach feels like dough, I am so grateful that it was able to carry 4 perfectly healthy babies inside of it! My stomach may not be tight now, but it was worth it. Our physical bodies are truly amazing and I know that I need to start appreciating mine like Chloe does. So gals . . . my challenge is for you to learn to love YOUR nakedness! Let's stop being so critical and start being grateful for all the things it CAN do. I think I'll go and appreciate my mouth now and eat a donut or something :)
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5 comments:
Amen, sister! I think one of the best things about having a daughter is seeing how free and uninhibited she is. She hasn't {yet} been poisoned by society, so she dances around with abandon, wears mismatched clothing, and asks with genuine confusion, "What are you wearing makeup for?" Wouldn't it be great if we were all 'as little children'?
ps- save a doughnut for me! I'm craving a crispy creme. ;)
Steph, I LOVED this post. It's funny but now that I am starting to age (silly in perspective, I know), every now and then I get a little glimpse of what you just described. There are days when I can't stand ANYTHING about my body and then there are those sweet moments of abandon when I think, "Who CARES??? I'm healthy and happy, so what if my nose is a little crooked and my feet have grown two sizes from carrying the weight of five beautiful babies???" I always tell Lance how much I love his laugh lines around his eyes. Why can't I be that way about my own "flaws"? So thanks for the reminder!
I can't say I'm in love with my stretch marks, doughy tummy, or my relief society arms by any means, but I am willing to eat a donut and try to love myself a little bit more today! Thanks for the reality check! I might have to try Chloe's "look at my nakedness" parade and see if it does anything for my who cares attitude while I'm at it! I love mom's who are REAL.... :)
"Relief society arms"? Nice!
I was really taking this to heart. Despite a few health issues and not enough muscle,I have alot to be grateful for about my body. That lasted for a whole day and then I had Ty (5) tell me that I have "baby fat" on my arms. I thought "ya,from having babies". Now I'm back to trying to remember "at least I have arms and they work!" Thank you for helping us all remember......
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