Read Genesis 2:1-3; John 10:1-10

This coming Saturday is January 12, 2013. Exactly one year ago from that date I embarked on a journey that changed the course of my life forever.  At the time, I was morbidly obese, weighing in at 306.9 pounds. I was on medications for high blood pressure, for high cholesterol, and for type-II diabetes. I had to prick my finger every day to test my blood/sugar levels.

With that said, I felt like things were going well for me. Just a few months earlier I had graduated from Seminary, I was serving as a youth pastor, was in the process toward candidacy for ordination within my denomination, and I thought things were going good for me.  Yet, within me all things were not as well as they seemed on the surface.

On January 12, 2012, I began a sixty day juice fast, which means that for sixty days I only drank raw vegetable and raw fruit juices for my meals, along with lots of water. I had seen a documentary about it and decided to give it a try. Taking it day-by-day, I began to lose more and more weight. But that this isn’t just about weight loss. As the pounds came off, I began to feel such a boost of energy like I had never felt before. As a result, I started walking and then, a week or two later, I started jogging.

The pounds kept coming off and other things started to happen as well. I started to feel more confidence in the things I was doing. I felt happier and more joyful. I felt more connected to myself as a person. I began to listen to what my body was telling me, learning the language that it was speaking to me. I also began to feel a much closer and deeper connection with God, and I always felt I had a deep and close relationship with God; however, since working toward a physically healthier me, I definitely felt closer to God then I ever had before. I was discerning things much clearer than I ever had and I was more attuned with what God was calling me to do.

What I realized, and what I believe each of us needs to come to a realization is that the mind, body and soul are very much connected. We Westerners often like to compartmentalize everything, including our very beings. What I came to realize is that the body, the mind and the spirit could not be separated or compartmentalized so easily. When I am not feeling well physically, that inherently takes a toll on the rest of who I am as a person.  When a part of us is not feeling well, the rest of us cannot be either.

God wants us to take care of ourselves, in fact, if we cannot take care of ourselves we have no business taking care of others.  The church has not been a good place for self-care because many in the church have interpreted self-care to be selfish; however, is it selfish to care for any being that God created? Are we not called to be good stewards of God’s creation, ourselves included? It is important to realize that self-care is not self-centered. It is God-centered to care for God’s creation in a way that honors it as sacred and holy!

God is calling you to care for yourself today, and to continue to care for yourself throughout all of your days. Whatever care you might need, whether it is physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, etc., God is calling you to take the necessary steps to care for yourself. After all, you are very much a part of God’s creation. You are a being created in the image of God and that is not to be taken lightly.  Therefore, go and take care of yourself and experience the abundant life God has to offer you; then take that life and share it with those around you.

Lord, teach me to see my whole being as your temple and guide me toward the abundant life you wish for me to have. Amen.