When my wife was a teenager, she became very concerned with her weight. But her mother told her not to worry. Why? Because she knew her daughter was too astute to let her weight get out of control. What that meant to my wife was that her mom was reminding her that she had a deeper understanding of her identity as being more than just physical. She had learned in her Sunday School that she was the child of God and so she understood that issues of weight had a spiritual dimension. She could demonstrate what the Bible calls “dominion” over her circumstances.
Why is my wife’s story important today? Because according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity continues to be on the rise and is now found to be a significant factor in many urgent public health issues. The US is the country with the highest percentage of obese or overweight people and worldwide.
While people continue to look for answers to obesity issues by identifying economic conditions and analyzing for food quality and quantity, progress remains elusive. This means that people are starting to look in other directions to solve the issue of what controls the need for excessive food consumption. And some are beginning to conclude that filling a mental and spiritual void is key to finding a solution to this obesity epidemic.
“If you are overweight or obese, your weight loss journey starts from the inside – out,” says Shannon McKeown, nutrition counselor, dietitian, and writer.
But how do we turn from the need to fill a void with food to filling that void with spiritual sustenance?
We can get some counsel from the Bible on this issue, like my wife did. Jesus advises, “take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink…is not the life more than meat…?” This doesn’t mean we can just eat whatever we like. Instead it points our thought away from too much focus on what we consume – whether that means overeating or being over-conscious of what we eat – to our spiritual identity. And I find a quote from someone who loved and understood the Bible, author Mary Baker Eddy, to be especially helpful in showing how to do this. She writes of God: “Divine Love corrects and governs man”. And, “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.”
Holding to the idea that an all encompassing and ever present divine Love is always directing our path can combat feelings of purposelessness or powerlessness. These thoughts of divine Love satisfy our longings and become the basis for filling that spiritual void, in a way that never runs out, never goes stale, and fills the hungry heart.
Don Ingwerson
Don lives in Laguna Beach with his wife and they are both Christian Science practitioners. He brings his years serving the public in education to his work as a liaison of Christian Science, where he maintains contacts with the media and legislative offices. Don blogs on health and spirituality and you can read more at www.csinsocal.com.
