Knees to kneel, lips to plead, hands to reach up
Reflections on the blessings and burdens of a body
Most of my life I’ve been blessed with good health, a blessing I have absolutely taken for granted.
I’ve had a total of one surgery (microdiscectomy L5 S1…if you know, you know) a small handful of visits to the ER, and a dramatic fall off the playground slide on my 9th birthday that resulted in a broken arm. Otherwise, I’ve been miraculously free of serious health issues. And I write that recognizing that so many suffer from debilitating illness, chronic disease, crippling depression, and countless other physical and emotional health conditions that are the part of the test of living with a mortal, flawed body.
In the past month or so, I’ve experienced several minor health challenges (including a visit to the ER just today for a knee injury) that have reminded me of the famous quote attributed to Tony Robbins:
"A healthy person has a thousand wishes, a sick person just one.”
I have been reminded of what an incredible gift our bodies are, and also how important they are to our ultimate destiny. At the same time, I have a deepened empathy for those who suffer from chronic illness or other serious health problems and who are desperate for even temporary relief when full healing has not yet come.
I’m thinking of friends and family members who are severely limited in their ability to function, or who have struggled with emotional difficulties for years and even decades. I’m thinking of people I have been blessed to serve with who almost never feel good, and who often have served beyond the breaking point (not a practice I am endorsing here.) They are my heroes and are living witnesses of God’s infinite love. As they endure to the end in faith, my faith is strengthened.
As I’ve been pondering over what I might share about the blessing (and burden) of a mortal body, two thoughts have come repeatedly: First, God uses our bodies to teach us so many important lessons, including the realization that we are completely dependent on Him to provide everything needed to stay alive. Food, water, oxygen, and so much more - it is stunning to consider what is required to sustain life, and to realize how much thought went into providing His children with “every needful thing.” As if this weren’t enough, it is humbling to think of the many gifts we’ve been given that provide our bodies with joy. The almost endless variety of things that taste good. Our remarkable ability to see almost a million different colors. Our sense of smell and its relationship to memory.
Secondly, I have been reminded during my recent health challenges (again, so minor in relation what others suffer) that most of the Savior’s mortal ministry involved healing others and that even He needed to experience the pain of mortality through His Atonement in order to understand what we each experience. If I understand the scriptures correctly, Jesus needed to feel in His body what we would feel when we get sick, when we are afraid or alone, all types and levels of physical pain, and of course the myriad challenges we would suffer from anxiety, depression, guilt, and so much more. Importantly, many if not all of the Savior’s miracles related in some way to the body. Healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk. It is tender to contemplate the deep compassion He gained from these moments of healing, and how much joy they must have brought Him. I am reminded of a favorite verse I have quoted before, Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,; but was in all points tempted like as we are…” The thought of the Savior feeling in Himself all of the things that every one of God’s children would experience is incomprehensible. It also happens to be true.
Think of the many ways we use our bodies to seek for God. Kneeling. Eating bread and drinking water. Lips pleading in prayer. Standing to voice one’s faith. All of our interactions with the Holy Ghost include our senses and our physical body.
The principle of stewardship is relevant here. A stewardship is a gift or obligation given to us from God. Everything we have is a stewardship - our lives, our talents, our spouses and children, our property and yes, our bodies. Stewardships also include an ultimate accounting of some kind to the giver of the gift. It is interesting to think about this in the context of our bodies. What will we be expected to account for? How well we cared for the body we were given? Whether or not we chose to mistreat or neglect it? Will we be held to account for how well we used our bodies to serve others, to build connection and create life through the profound gift of sexuality, and how we responded to illness, pain, and physical or emotional infirmities?
Many additional questions for pondering could be shared. Although I haven’t enjoyed the recent health problems I’ve been given, I am grateful for them and the lessons they have taught and are teaching me. One of the sweet things I have come to appreciate when I am sick or injured is the gift of relief. I always feel more humble and dependent upon God for my blessings when blessed relief is sent. Sometimes it take much longer than I would hope to arrive, but always relief is received with gratitude.
In conclusion, I send my prayers for healing and relief to come to any who may be struggling with their own health challenges or with those of a loved one. It can be a helpless feeling to see someone you love suffering. I pray that He who knows perfectly what each of us has or will experience as stewards of mortal, imperfect bodies is eager to heal and restore. None does it better. I pray you will feel Him draw near and take you in His loving, empathetic arms. Consider carefully His choice to retain the emblems of Atonement in His hands and feet and side. He never wants us to forget the price He paid with His blood and body. He alone knows to the full all that we ever have or ever will suffer. He alone can make every wrong right, every wound whole, every ache soothed.
