A photo of my seven-week-old nephew, Jayden, shows an irritated expression on his face and a tiny black shirt printed with a white rib cage on his little tummy. Jayden's ensemble was a nod to my family's legendary ability to ignore a gently rumbling stomach until it coasts past the stage of shaking hands and distractibility, stopping only after it yields the floor to snarling irrationality. (Jayden's irritated expression was a very true-to-life touch.)
Down to a member, all six of the Taylors can chart a correlation between plunging blood sugar and soaring irritability. It's bad enough when we're apart from one another, but the problem is compounded exponentially whenever two or three are gathered. In fact, when I look back on our shared life, I strongly suspect that a specific epoch of family crisis might have been staved off with a box of granola bars.
I've occasionally treated my body like it's the machine that carries my brain around. When I'm feeling particularly spiritual, I substitute "carries my soul around" in that sentence. It's not that I've ever intentionally mistreated my body. But like many people, I sometimes let good habits slide. And like many people, my uber-busy life provides a ready excuse for letting my sneakers gather dust, eating dinner out of a white paper bag, or staying up too late. Again.
Recently, when my doctor suggested that I'd feel more rested if I slept more, I suppressed the urge to snarl something pithy and brittle about Captain Obvious and the value of medical school. (Now that I think about it, I'd skipped breakfast that morning.) Still, the simplicity of his "prescription" made me thankful to be a healthy person who needs to develop healthier habits. And I committed myself to getting back on track.
Take time to think about it. How do you maintain healthy habits during your busiest days? And do you ever sense a connection between the care of your body and the health of your soul? If so, then it pays to give attention to your body and to realize it not only affects your relationships with others but your relationship with God as well.
Adapted from "Healthy Body, Healthy Soul?" by LaTonya Taylor, Kyria.com. Click here to read the original article in its entirety and for reprint information.
