Monday, October 12, 2009

Prayer for my girls

I found this poem on the Segullah website and loved it. I hope for exactly this for my girls (and my boy, although his pressures will be different.) The body given us is such a wonderful gift, such a complex, beautiful symphony of miracles. Any study of anatomy, biology, chemistry only increases the wonder. How grateful I am for this amazing gift. I hope I can teach my children how blessed they are and what a great responsibility we have to care for our mortal temples. Finally, at 40, I am beginning to give the time and energy and attention I ought to what may well be my greatest gift from my Heavenly Father.

Body Image

by Melissa Young

Almost naked,
she stands before the full-length mirror,
loving her reflection.

Three years old, still baby soft.
“Look, Mom,” she says,
bending backward,
her round belly protruding.
“I’m so big!”

Yes, you are, I say,
and ache,
knowing the day will come
when her view of what is
beautiful
will change,
and she will no longer see it
in herself.

How I wish I could capture
the adoration I see now—
pour it over her head
when the mirror seems to only speak
her flaws,
let it run warm over her senses,
infuse her with
the joy of living,
an awe of mortal flesh,
the miracle of touch and breath,
heat and thorns,

That she could always be
as a little child,
and never wish for
wasting over health,
flatness over curves,
bones over flesh,

That she might be as she is now
with her belly out, smiling,
delighting in fatness.

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