The mind and body are tricky. They often work against each other when it comes to feeling good about ourselves and what we can do. Because of that, I often struggle in my mind about my body and what I have done with my life... life situations. And yet, the paradox is that I need my mind and body to make any kind of progress. Its a daily struggle. I so long to feel whole...
But what if I'm already whole? What if all I need to do to feel whole is to remember and apply one thing?
The other day I went to a conference where Dr. Matt Townsend, a life coach among many other titles, spoke. After hearing his thoughts, I starting thinking about my life experience. Then, I thought about Christ and his mortal experience.
A story came to mind.
At the beginning of Christs mortal ministry he traveled back to Nazareth to teach those he grew up with. One the sabbath day he went to the synagogue to read out of tradition. He was reading a particular passage in Isaiah that prophesied of the coming of a savior, one who would be sent to heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, recover sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who were wounded. In his reading, Christ mentioned that he was the one who was anointed to come and do what the scriptures have said. The people in turn looked at him in astonishment. They couldn't believe what he just said and didn't let anytime waste before the kicked him out of tow for saying such blasphemy. To them, he was just the carpenters son and nothing more. And yet, in reality, he was the creator of this world.
Christ's life was filled with one paradox after another. To the mortal mind, this is confusing and disheartening. And may even seem unfair. And yet, it was they way things needed to be. In the end, he needed to be crucified because for us, it was the only way we could overcome mortality. It was the only way we could live again.
So, I started to think...
What if all the trials and paradoxes in my life also had purpose?
What if they were for my benefit?
Maybe, just maybe they were there to help me overcome my weakness. They were there to help me be more like my Savior.
In his message, Matt Townsend gave a analogy of folding a napkin. He said that it has been discovered that for a human body to be created, cells must divide trillions of times. Well, if you had to fold a napkin, or your laundry, trillions of times, how many times would it be perfect? Our bodies also have "miss-folds". Or in others words, there are many deformities of cells that happen. Sometimes this comes in the form of disease. Sometimes we see some physical attributes as "miss-folds" such as the way our body is shaped or how much hair we have. Sometimes we blame our talents/ abilities (or lack thereof) or even addictions on "miss-folds". However, these "miss-folds" are usually not the problem. You see, our bodies get a bad rap for doing or being what they were simply programmed to do or be. We look at them and sometimes blame many of our biggest problems on them. Here is the issue: in these times, we are experiencing life through our mind. Our perception of how things should go or be as we see it. However, we fail to see ourselves as the Savior sees us. We fail to see life and experiences as the Savior would see them. Maybe, just maybe they are a bunch of paradoxes that are present because that is how our life needed to go to learn and do what we needed to learn and do. We often fail to see things through a bigger scope with love, acceptance, and patience; we fail to look through our spiritual eyes.
I recently wrote a song called "Through His Eyes". It starts with a story about a blind man who was born blind. Despite what the the traditions of the people who saw the man as a sinner, the Savior saw him differently. He loved this man and therefore went about doing good. By the small means of spit and dirt, he healed the blind man. After being healed, this man saw more that the objects in front of him. He saw the purpose of his affliction as the Savior did.
The soul is the body and spirit combined. And because we are mortal, our bodies will dysfunction and not always work correctly. We will find those "miss-folds". We must remember that our body is a shell to house our spirit. Our body is not who we are. It does not define our true self. Our spirit is the definition of our character and nature. We must not allow our carnal mind to get in the way. We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by what the spirit knows to be true. Our spiritual eyes see life the way the Savior does. We see our weakness with a purpose.
When Christ was summoned because Lazereth had died, he did not come and immediately raise him from the dead. Rather, he felt Mary and Martha's pain, He wept with them. Christ weeps with us too. Sometimes, like Lazereth and the blind man, we are healed for a wise purpose. And sometimes unlike Lazereth, he will not heal us but rather allow us to keep our afflictions. This is not to be cruel but rather it is the individual path need to be perfected in Him. And just because we have one or two or several dozen "miss-folds" in our lives doesn't mean we cannot be whole because, just as he promised, we are whole through Him.
The Savior doesn't see us as fat, thin, married, single, rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, or talented. Those are titles the world places on us that we choose to see through with our mortal eyes. But when we look past those things, when we see ourselves and lives and our Savior sees us, all those labels go away. Instead of defeat, loneliness, despair, or rejection, we see peace, love, security, and purpose. We see progress and potential. We are at one with God.
