Hairy legs and sun-burnt nose When at the beach, anything goes. Unbrushed teeth and happy-hour drinks This much I know: my breath stinks. Fish for dinner plus a fruity potion Diet be damned, I'm at the ocean. Sand in my bed, and in my salt-fried hair, Sir, what is the time? Wait. Why do I care?? It's here that I feel no virus, pain, or LAM - Must be the thick presence, of the great I AM.
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Just a couple of days ago I slipped into my new bikini and Brenda and I headed out for a walk along the Gulf of Mexico in Puerto Vallarta. We felt so important – staying at a swanky resort where budding American accountants and their wives went to feel more successful than they actually were.
We turned the heads of both the locals and tourists. We heard the comments – the catcalls – and laughed at the power of the female anatomy. Perhaps we did stick out – both young, fresh blondes in our little bikinis. And Brenda is tall – really tall – and her long, lean legs stop somewhere around her neck. I’m not tall, nor would anyone ever describe me as “lean,” but I don’t think people gouge their eyes out when they see me either. Some of our admirers even followed us into the bars at night and tried to dance with us. Our husbands just laughed – knowing they alone held our hearts.
Then a few days passed.
Today I slipped on my Grandma-style black bathing skirt and floppy top – a two-piece ensemble designed to masquerade the wrinkles, bumps and lumps of old ladies. When I finally put down my reading glasses and book on racial reconciliation and headed out for my daily beach walk, I had an indescribable sense of peace. There was no need to “suck it in,” apply lip gloss, or make sure my skin was shiny with tanning oil because nothing I do at this point improves the situation anyway. I don’t turn heads anymore and I’m not mad about it. It’s so much easier and freer these days. But as I watch all the bikini-girls walk on by, I think to myself, “Oh I remember those days. That was just a couple of days ago for me.”
And in between those couple of days this body did a couple of things. It grew five babies in its womb. Three of them made it out alive, two went directly to heaven and we never even knew their gender.
And both the joy and the sadness of each of those babies resulted in wrinkles and a little less “perk” to this body.
This body wiped about a million butts. Between my own babys’ butts, butts at the nursing home, and butts at the hospital, a million could be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s a ridiculously high number.
And all those many, many nights of getting up with babies coupled with the graveyard shifts at the hospital working in the ICU and caring for precious souls whose actual LIFE hung in the balance just piled on the wrinkles, the eye-bags and overall “sagging.” Some days it was as if I could physically FEEL my body sagging as I drove home from the hospital, bearing the burdens of deep sadness experienced in the ICU.
This body packed up four children and an entire household 11 times. Four of those times were to and from far away countries. This body has slept in tents, in negative five-star hotels, under the stars and on the floor of the Sahara Desert.
And all those achy muscles and bones from asking this body to go above and beyond its normal strain left this body a little more worn and limping. More bumps, more bruises, more sagging.
This body has cried alongside Syrian refugees and widowed Guatemalan women. It’s heard the stories of Jews living in a kibbutz and Moroccans living in shantytowns. It’s befriended the homeless and the helpless, those that have much and those that will never have any. It’s worked tirelessly to bring peace and comfort to the psychologically challenged. And currently, it grieves for Afghanistan and her people, those picking up pieces of their lives after a natural disaster, those affected and infected by COVID, and those who have misplaced their peace because of internet lies. But this body has never given up hope that the shalom of Christ is possible here on earth.
With each new discovery of the world’s many crises, its needs and its sorrows, this body sagged a little further. It sagged even as it considered all the possible ways to help make a difference. Believing change can happen and working hard to BE that change, no doubt, is exhausting.
This body has held the hands of many people as they took their final breaths – patients, close friends, and dear, precious family members. This body – specifically the heart and soul – has suffered more grief and loss than I thought a body could bear.
And I’m quite certain the most wrinkles, the most wear and tear on both the inside and the outside of this body have come from the sorrow. Sorrow, I believe, ages us the most.
Then a new shock sliced me open. This body somehow developed all kinds of holes in its lungs and now this body doesn’t breathe very well anymore. This body sometimes tells me it’s wearing out (like on the hot, humid, Michigan summer days, or when faced with more than 20 stairs) and it doesn’t feel like putting up a fight anymore.
And with each labored breath, I feel the work of this entire body doing its thing. Pumping its limited supply of oxygen where it’s needed the most. The work, the strain, the fatigue = more wrinkles, more sagging, more bumps and lumps as I sometimes eat my way out of the despair.
This body has served me well and I sure hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining. None of these bodies we inhabit were made to last forever and perhaps my temple expiration date is just a little sooner than others. This body has also lasted much longer than forecasted and the reality of that miracle is not lost on me.
Today, THIS body has earned its wrinkles, its sags and lumps and bumps and proudly walks the beach in the Grandma bathing suit because – OH WOW! – I’m alive!!! I would never want to go back to the woman who wore the bikini. My life is testimony to the beauty of the hard work done by my body.
Let’s celebrate these masterfully made bodies, friends. These are miraculous gifts that – in spite of things like cancer and cerebral palsy and limb difference and high cholesterol – house our heart and soul and allow us to breathe and love and care and serve. We may not have been given the body we wanted, or the body that’s as healthy as we’d like; but if we’re alive, then at least we HAVE a body and whatever it looks like, it’s a freakin’ miracle!
Let’s give God glory for these glorious bodies today, shall we???
Amen sister! But I refuse to succumb to grandma hair, thanks to mocha Java brandy color and my hairdresser! ☺️
Oh yeah – with you on that one, for sure! My mom just asked me the other day, “Cindy, what do you think is the actual color of your hair?” And I said, “I have no idea, Mom. No idea at all.”
We’ll said again! Made me cry but also praise God! You have a beautiful writing gift!
Thank you, Irina. I don’t want to always make people cry… but life is hard, you know? When we say it like it is, there will be tears. But oh the joy, when we realize God is still there – amidst BOTH the tears of sorrow and the tears of laughter!!!
So true Cindy! Thanks again for your insight on another phase of life!
Thanks, Karla! Can you even BELIEVE that we are in the “Grandma Phase” of life??? Time is such a thief. I still feel about 28 or 29… (Okay, that’s a lie. My aching back just reminded me I really feel more like 48 or 49… BUT STILL!!!)
Again, a BEAUTIFUL piece of writing Cindy. What a gift! Thank you for sharing and putting into words what a lot of us are thinking but don’t know how to say it. God bless you and your beautiful family. ❤️🙏❤️🙏
Thanks, Jill! I don’t know if I have a true “gift,” or just zero shame in shaming myself! Hahaha! My grandmother used to say to me, “Girl, have you no shame?” I guess the answer now is, no, not really, Grandma!! And I feel like that’s one more thing I can add to the “positive” side of finding out you have a terminal illness – there’s just no point in holding back thoughts/words anymore. So I say it like it is!
Cindy,
LOVE the perspective! Well-said. Your words call to mind Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.
So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”
We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,
will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.
All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are
being renewed every day.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
———
Becoming increasingly aware of my own finiteness as my “get up and get going” each day seems more and more to have already gotten up and went —pushes me to accept the reality of that finiteness. I must therefore focus on the new incorruptible body awaiting me.
Growing older with grace is becoming a greater aspiration than trying to hold on to the illusion of youthfulness.
Thanx for the reminder that certain wrinkles, bruises (and perhaps some lumps) are badges of honor NOT to be covered, but rather, proudly put on display for the glory of God.
My dearest Pastor Keith –
What a beautiful, thoughtful response to my blog. I love you and your pastoral heart. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought of those scripture verses from 2 Corinthians. And as I read them, it made me weep with the way God KNEW we’d need this encouragement as our bodies started to age (or to let us down at any stage of life). What a powerful reminder (and one I truly needed) that God still renews our spirits daily – EVEN when the body is faltering. And that these troubles are SMALL and won’t last long (man, how often I forget that one) but they are producing a GLORY that will outlast everything!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
I feel like rewriting the entire blog post and incorporating that scripture. Then again, I SO struggle with keeping things short (expert bloggers say you should never go over 1000 words – and I have trouble keeping it under 2000!). But that chapter right there is an entire blog in and of itself. It just fills us with hope and joy even when the things of this world no longer give us those things.
When are you guys coming to Michigan next? And can we get a slice of your time when you do??? Miss you both!
Just read this Cindy and it made me laugh. I remember that time so well too!
Oh what fun we had. So thankful we have grown (in many ways 🙂 since then.
Keep writing you are very gifted!
Oh Brenda!!! I had hoped this blog would give you a chuckle!!! And, like I told Randy, your LONG, LEAN legs haven’t changed a bit! I bet you STILL turn heads when walking on the beach!!! Love you!
Thanks. A well-written tribute to us humans who are made in God’s image.
Thank you, Ann! So, so important for us to never forget HE created us JUST the way we are and ALL of us are in HIS image!!! Mind-boggling beauty, isn’t it???
Thank you for always helping your readers put things into perspective. Along with your writing, that is a gift you have!!
I forgot to tell you last night that your hair (on Zoom) looked amazing! Whatever color it is (I read some of the other posts), it is gorgeous!! Hee!!
Love your poem, friend!