I purchased a “Built Ford Tough” t-shirt in gratitude to God. Why? Because. Because for the past several years I have been so “driven” I damaged my health. As a result, I made significant life changes in order to slow down after which it occurred to me that taking care of one’s health is at the very least a part time job. If you take care to plan meals and watch what you eat and exercise and get plenty of rest and take Geritol (now I’m dating myself), this takes TIME. Time is something I had not enough of, and health was an afterthought until God sent me the check engine light through a visit to the E.R.
I am now having my engine overhauled by abiding by all the aforementioned minus the Geritol.
In part what prompted this plan of action was the fact that the daily lectionary app that I like to read: www.satucket.com/lectionary/ kept telling me about all the saints whose life stories end with: “and then he/she died of exhaustion.” This seemed foreboding to me. And although perishing from pushing it too hard at a high-speed pace may be a form of martyrdom, I also had a friend say to me, “We are in this for the long haul.” The long haul resonates with me. I am not a Maserati. I am a pickup. It is important to discern one’s make and model. Some people may in fact have been created to be Maseratis, and I admire this. But this is not how I am built, and “a person can receive only what is given from heaven,” (John 3:27). I have not been gifted the skill set for Maserati martyrdom. But I was built tough. Thanks be to God. I have plowed through rough terrain and taken a beating, yet my chassis is still intact.
And let me ask you this: why are we so careful to restore the stained glass in our places of worship, and polish the pews, and re-do the roofs, and Brillo the brass, and green up the grounds, and order new lettering for our streetside signs in order to honor the One we worship while creating an inviting environment – why do we beautify our buildings but neglect our bodies which are the very temples of the living God? (2 Cor. 6:16). We are God’s portable buildings. And yes, how we treat people is foremost, but a harried and haggard billboard is not conducive to causing others to say, “I want to know more about the God they serve.”
“Therefore, glorify God in your body,” (2 Cor. 6:20) said Paul to the Corinthians. And being less eloquent than Paul, I say to you: What dealership would rely on a broken-down Oldsmobile to draw in customers? Case in point: “I wanna go to the corroded clunker car lot,” said NOBODY EVER.
As such, I am grateful to God for helping me restore this vehicle, which was gifted to me, that I confess I have neglected. And since we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, is it not logical to love ourselves? Not in a selfish or vain type of way, but in a grateful and nurturing way. That being said, I encourage you to: Check your engine light.
H.D. Anyone 