Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

Have you ever attended a cheerleading competition? I’m not talking about the girls wearing next to nothing on the sidelines of NFL games on TV. I’m talking about real cheerleading and the competitions they hold for High School squads in States across the country following the end of football season each year.

With both of my daughters having been cheerleaders (and a daughter-in-law as well) during their high school and college years, I can say that I have been to my fair share of them. Of course, as a father, I was very proud of my girls as they moved through the ranks; but an all-day affair at a high school gymnasium in some small, out-of-the-way town in Mississippi can be rough on anybody. At least that is the way it was in the beginning for me.

Once I learned the rules and became familiar with the routines and how they were judged, I became a closet addict of the sport. The way the girls (and guys) can fling their bodies through the air, casting caution to the wind in the process, and the way the squad depends on each other during a performance really is something to see. I caught myself on more than one occasion wondering why I never learned to do a back tuck when I was young and in my prime.

I was never very athletic, too small to do much good in football, and much too short and uncoordinated for basketball. I don’t think baseball was invented back then, at least not in rural Mississippi in the 1970’s. Maybe it was there and we didn’t know about it yet, but it seems as though we finally did field a baseball team during my senior year.

Athletics are a good cause. We have amazing bodies that can be trained to do dynamic things if we take care of them and use them correctly. The Psalmist writes in Chapter 139, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Fearfully and wonderfully made – knowing that fact should make us careful about the choices we make with the bodies God has given us. The Bible also tells us that our bodies are temples, and we should treat them as such. I’d never bring alcohol or drugs into a temple; what would the preacher say! That’s a no-brainer, and as such almost deserves a non-comment from me in this column.

But in what other ways can we abuse these bodies that are so fearfully and wonderfully made? Maybe when we overindulge in our favorite fried, greasy foods or grab that extra slice of pizza that we just can’t resist? Or how about when we sit in front of a TV or behind our keyboards, foregoing the proper amount of exercise that our bodies need to sustain our muscular makeup? (Ouch!)

What about, God forbid, when we use our bodies in a carnal way with someone else outside of marriage? I don’t think I need to draw a picture or go into further detail on that one.

There are many ways to defile our bodies, and I’ve barely scratched the surface here. My point this morning is that what the Psalmist said is as true today as it was back in his day. Our bodies are dramatic gifts from God; from our eyes to our toes, and that includes the breath He gives us and the heartbeat that sustains us for each and every day of our lives. We should demonstrate our thankfulness in the way we take care of ourselves, choosing to forego the things that could conceivably damage or ruin our bodies in the process.

Excuse me, but there is a trampoline in my back yard, and I’m thinking that if I…. Nah!