January: Physical Wellness

New Year’s Resolutions are flying around this time of the year. What have you resolved? A popular cluster of resolutions centers on physical concerns – eating better, exercising, dieting, new clothing styles, perhaps a haircut, or just plain all around better health. I myself want to lose weight, decide about how much facial hair is the right balance, but most of all – pursue better health. For years I have taken my generally good health for granted and now it is time to pay attention, to figure out the best way to use my strengths and answer developing needs.

I believe that a Christian is called to do the same. We are given all around good faith when in Baptism the Lord draws us into the Body of Christ and blesses us with faith. January 9 celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord, when Jesus was declared God’s Son, the Holy Spirit appeared, and Jesus entered his divine mission. It is a timely reminder that we too have been declared God’s sons and daughters by Baptism, infused with the Spirit, and sent on missions with the gifts we have. We are reminded in I Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” Thus, to be the persons God created us to be, to be the persons God recreated us to be by Baptism, to experience the wellness of the Lord, we are invited to reflect on the faith we have been given, to appreciate the gift it has been, and then to ponder how our gifts might be groomed, fed, exercised, even restyled for this day and time. I invite you this month, every month really, to consider the gift that God has given – you yourself, your life itself, your faith itself. And now, how can you address your physical shape to appreciate the temple that you are; how can you address your spiritual shape to appreciate your faith and share it strongly now?