How To View Your Body as a Gift, Not a Project
It started with an offhand comment.
I slipped into a new dance costume for the yearly recital. It was a vibrant, reddish-orange leotard with yellow and orange fringe, crisscrossing just above and below my torso, framing my 8-year-old belly. As I twirled around, eager for approval, a solitary comment lingered in the air: “The costumes aren’t very flattering.”
Though the words were aimed at the costume design, all I could hear was a subtle critique of my body . . . it should be different or it should be hidden. My belly was on display in a way that, note taken, was unappealing.
That comment flipped a switch in my mind, one that never turned off. It felt totally normal to constantly look at my reflection and photographs and pick apart what wasn’t flattering. There was me, and then there was the reflection of me, and we were enemies.
At nineteen, I pursued a degree in Health Studies, while accumulating every certification I could—personal training, nutrition, Pilates, prenatal and postpartum fitness. I was determined to educate my way to the body I wanted. It was an endless dance of both love for the human body, and also a hate for my own body with every bit of knowledge I gathered.
The more I zoomed in on all the things I wanted to change, the more I found wrong. The harder I worked, the worse my body image became.
The Question That Changed Everything
It took nearly two decades before I would finally ask myself the question that would change everything:
If the body is “good,” then why do Christian women still have so many negative feelings about their body?
As I have unraveled all the messaging from my time working in the health and fitness industry and began replacing it with the truth about the purpose of our bodies from a biblical perspective, gratitude became the natural first step and an antidote to my endless dissatisfaction.
Gratitude reorients us to our Creator.
Gratitude shifts meals from a list of ingredients into a reminder of our daily provision.
Gratitude transforms acts of caring for our bodies from a stressful to-do list into worship for the One who chose them for us.
Gratitude boldly declares that aging and sickness do not diminish our bodies’ value but instead reveal their purpose—allowing us to witness God’s power at work through our limits.
Gratitude turns our focus from what our bodies are not to glorifying God for all that they are.
Better Than a “Quick Fix”
Is gratitude a quick fix? Not at all. It’s a regular practice of returning to the truth, recognizing the messages that are selling us discontentment, and choosing instead to see our bodies through the lens of God’s design. This kind of work is more than a mindset shift, it’s a spiritual practice.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
– Romans 12:1-2, CSB
I have learned that you cannot change your body image by changing what you see in the mirror. Instead, it is transformed by the profound truth that our bodies are not a problem to be solved, but a gift that allows us to image Christ to the world. And when we really understand this gift, we will find ourselves in a place of genuine worship and gratitude.
Meet Ashley Hoover
Ashley encourages Christian women to rethink body image through a biblical lens. Drawing on her background in health and fitness, she unpacks cultural messages about the body and replaces them with the truth of God’s design. A wife and homeschool mom to two boys, she loves a good book and never misses a chance to share a great recommendation!
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
