Memo From the Lord: Ft People are OK
Memo From The Lord: Fat People Are OK With my wife, Debbie, going through her current challenges and soon-to-be second major surgery, I have been doing a lot of thinking about health. Personally I am blessed with what seems to be amazingly good health. The doctors marvel at my blood pressure. I have never had major surgery or illness and seem seldom to even get sick. In the grand scheme of life I guess it is not fair to others that I am so healthy. And I have not really earned this by my attention to self-care. It just happens to be a welcome passenger in my journey of life at this particular time. I’m not beautiful, and maybe God gave me this face to counterbalance my good health so I would not be prideful? But I heard a gorgeous movie star say that her appearance was because of no achievement of her own, that she has “simply won the lottery of life”. That’s humility! Those of us who are healthy, or blessed in any other of a thousand different ways, should have the same mindset.
As a Christian, I believe there are indeed some guarantees in life. God loves you (I Jn. 4:8), guaranteed. He has a plan for your life that involves good (Jer. 29:11). He will never leave or forsake you (Heb. 13:5). And He wants to give you eternal life, which involves quality as well as quantity (John 3:16). But healthwise, there are no guarantees about tomorrow. I think taking care of yourself and eating right increase your odds. But still, the fat guy may live to be 100, and the skinny guy may have a heart attack tomorrow.
Personally I think our society is far too judgmental, and mean, to those who are overweight. It’s not healthy for sure. By observation, I can tell you that many people who are skinny are that way mostly through genetics. They do not avoid ice cream and cake, they do not exercise five times per week. Instead they have been blessed with a physical make-up that keeps them slender. And for those of us who have not come into this world with such genes, we believe it is not fair! We need to remember as followers of Christ that the value and quality of a human being is not determined by any physical adherence to a social norm. Hopefully we learned this during that awkward struggle of adolescence where we first learned to think beyond the immediate. How much an individual weighs is not connected to how truly attractive he is as a person- unless you choose to make that connection! Fact is, and likely you have come to realize this, a person grows or diminishes is true attractiveness as you get to know him or her.
May your first inclination when you meet someone be to love that person, and the last to judge. Be like Jesus. Jesus loves big and little people the same. Thank God!
