Souls and Bodies

Holy Moley.
I am a whopping 16 pages into Jesus the Christ and I am fairly sure my mind has been blown a couple times already. If nothing else, I believe the reading of this book will turn me to more serious reflections than those of a young woman dreaming of love. As of the moment, I am not completely comfortable discussing such things openly on such a broadly accessible domain as this. But perhaps later on when the information I am trying to digest starts making connections in my mind as the nerves synapses that work on their own... if that makes any sense at all.

Lately, I have been seeing this quote often enough for me to think on it and now comment on it. It is a quote by C.S. Lewis who was a Christian (which, even without someone telling you, is pretty evident in his Narnia books and other quotes that float about the deep conversations of the world... or at the very least the English speaking world...). 
The quote is this:
"You do not have a soul.
       You are a soul.
             You have a body."

When I first read it, I thought it to be a rather curious statement but rationality caught up with me and I realized how much more sense it makes than saying "you are a body". Although we are always saying "I am somebody" that is rather different, do you not agree? Moving on, we were all souls before coming to this world and were quite excited as the host of Heaven when we were told that we would be able to come down to this Earth and each be given his or her own body. 
Our bodies are gifts from a loving Heavenly Father. Putting it in such a perspective leads to the question, "Why are we not taking care of our bodies, our gifts?" Sure, there are some who take care of their body (some extremely so) and others have been given bodies with limits and restrictions either inflicted by DNA or accidents and injuries. But regardless of what body we have been given, it is still a gift from Heavenly Father. There are reasons, perfect as He, that we have received the body we live in--and in all honesty, we might never in this life understand the limitations He has placed on us but we are not called upon to worry about what we cannot control. 
Rather we are expected to take care of what He has given us to the best of our ability and knowledge. I admit that I have not always taken the best care of my own body that has been so blessed to work as is proper to being able to walk, run, dance, sing, hear and see. But I have abstained from abusive substances and gorging myself on the less healthy foods.
In talking to my mother the other day about having a balanced diet she told me this. "Treats are supposed to be just that, treats. Not a lifestyle." In other words, the occasional candy bar probably will not kill me, but it is when those foods designated as "treats" become the main part of your diet (or an essential component to getting through your day) that it becomes bad for you. 
I will probably continue to get my hot little hands on a soda when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. someone offering to buy me a drink... non-alcoholic of course) but you will not see me going out to buy two liter bottles of Barq's Rootbeer to drink all by my lonesome. 
I cannot express how excited I am to have a dance class this semester! What is even greater about it is the fact that those classes tend to weigh a lot on attendance and thus I will be compelled out of bed even on those days when I would rather sleep in (it being an 8 AM class). The other niceties of this course is its being on Tuesday and Thursday (suggesting that I also exercise on Saturday to keep the working out well rounded) so unless I get an earlier morning shift on Mondays and Fridays, I can easily get up at 8:30 on those days without feeling lazy. 
Huzzah for getting back into good physical shape! And also spiritual shape. It is great to be assigned such reading as Jesus the Christ to uplift my spirit but at the same time, I have also taken note on the effect a good, consistent exercise will do for the mind and heart. 
Most especially during these winter months where I have a more apt tendency to feel isolated and depressed--suffocated almost. 

So, in short, here is to kicking winter's butt and being fully dressed with a smile. 
Interesting how I just remembered the name of my blog...
I Will Cherish Every Memory-- and so I shall with the help of exercise of my body, my mind and my spirit. 2013 will turn out well.