Put Simply

It's buzzing today that CVS announced it will stop selling all tobacco products in its stores. I was pretty surprised by this, and I know people will have all sorts of opinions on it today. But after reading what the CEO of CVS had to say, it got me thinking. He stated:

"Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose." 

Good for them! They recognized their purpose, what they stand for, and realized they were plainly contradicting it by their actions. And after that realization, the next step was simple: stop the action.

Companies all have an aim, a mission statement. But what's yours? What's mine?

My purpose is to be ambassador of Christ in this world, an example to people of God's loving grace and hopeful truth. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

It's fair to stop and ask myself now and again, what in my life is inconsistent with my purpose? And if I find something, am I willing to cut it off, no matter the cost? (Matt 18:7-9)

It's projected that CVS will lose $2 billion annually by ending tobacco sales! That's significant, even to a major corporation, but they feel it's necessary in order to remain consistent. CVS claimed they were seeking to improve customer health, but they sold disease-causing, habit-forming products.

What's holding me back from my purpose? My aim, to be like Him.

• Attempting to worship and glorify Him early Sunday, but being a drunken mess all night Saturday?
• Singing of His Love, but speaking loads of hatred to strangers?
• Knowing of Gratitude, but whining all over Facebook?
• ____________, but __________________?

Locating the inconsistencies and taking the action to end them. Not to be perfect. We won't. But to be consistent with our purpose. A worthy, worthy attempt.

Extremes

I once got a C+ on a speech a wrote in college because I got so fired up about the topic that the Professor said it was more like a rant than a speech (it also may have had something to do with her being a bumper-sticker supporter of the person I was ranting against Ooops!) Anyway, I came across a seriously disturbing article in the NY Times this week and I will try my best to just share and avoid ranting, but I can't promise anything.

The article is titled Bridal Hunger Games: Losing Weight in Time for the Wedding. It's worth the click. You will be amazed at how this Style Section article seems to glorify, or at least normalize, these extreme wedding weight loss trends. The highlighted method is receiving a 10-day feeding tube through your nose which pumps you a mere 800-calories a day while you go about your everyday business (minus eating food). Is it really more of an inconvenience to go to the gym a few times a week than to walk around with a tube in your nose explaining to the sympathetic onlookers that you are not dying of cancer, but instead trying to drop a few pounds for your wedding? This isn't an obese woman looking to be mobile again; these are slightly overweight women looking to be immediately skinny. I don't understand how this is legal, really.

Leading up to my wedding, I definitely had some weight to I wanted to shed. I started teaching two classes a day, running in the mornings, and popping avocados like candy. Sure, it took more like 3 months than 10-days to get there, but I felt pretty awesome on my wedding day. I can't imagine how sickly someone would feel walking down the aisle like they just voluntarily spent a week in the hospital. Eating a little smarter and staying active may be the old-fashioned way nowadays, but it's always going to be the healthy way.

Even still, I can't help but to disagree with the saying, "Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels" because I can think of at least a dozen things that taste better than anything feels and I plan on eating them occasionally :)  But as extreme as the mentioned fad procedures are, I definitely need the basic, basic reminder that there is no substitute for healthy living. No doubt this insanity is going to grow in popularity and feeding tube centers could put Weight Watchers out of business one day, but I'd rather just eat me some salad please.

There has to be a balance, a middle-ground out there somewhere. The Word says we should neither treat our bodies like crap nor obsess over them.    “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)  While our bodies may just be earthly, temporary things, my Creator gifted me with a body, and I want to honor Him simply by choosing to respect it. I really do.

Biggest Loser for Believers

I have a secret ritual to confess to that I have done every Tuesday night for over 5 years... I intently watch the Biggest Loser. My husband and my college roommates will tell you this usually involves me eating simultaneously. I guess something about watching people workout makes me want to get down with some food. As hungry as the show makes me, it's also undeniably inspirational.

These are people who have allowed themselves to be crippled, in the dark, and practically hopeless. Through miraculous transformation they are able to dance with a newfound hope that radiates throughout their bodies.

As a believer, the Biggest Loser reminds me of two truths:  

complete transformation is possible and your body is a temple. 

• "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." -Philippians 3:19  

 Contestants on the Biggest Loser have allowed their god to be their stomach and have landed in a shameful pit of destruction.  And it is so easy for anyone to get here! Maybe not necessarily with food, but with all sorts of earthly things that we obsess over (alcohol, money, drugs, sex, power, etc.) Only through Christ and His power in us can control over these things be accomplished and true transformation of our "lowly bodies"  occur.

• "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received  from God? You are not your own, you were bought at price. Therefore, honor God with you body." -1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

While Paul precedes this verse in reference to sexuality, the bottom line is your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! How amazing is that?? And clearly the greatest way to dishonor your temple is to treat it like junk. Ignoring your body or feeding it with constant crap are certainly ways you can disrespect the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Lord lives in your body, don't you want it to be pleasing to him?

In the end, my obsession with weigh-ins, Bob & Jillian, challenges, and the like isn't as terrible as my husband's groaning each Tuesday implies. While I may enjoy some ice cream while viewing, The Biggest Loser does remind me of my own personal transformation and the sacredness of my temple.