Get that poetry on!

So a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Woodsedge Church to write some poetry for a video they were using in service based around Romans 12:1-2. The thought behind the message was to address the issue of self image as far as how we see our body and how we should see our body as a reflection of Christ. So, for your reading enjoyment I've pasted the two sections of the "spoken word" below.

Part 1:

This is my body.

An ordinary body, a sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around body.

This is my body.

A masterpiece of selfishness and vain conceit.
A miserable display of a shell that I paint and decorate to be what I think they want to see.

The world.

The world says my body should look a certain way, act a certain way, be dressed a certain way, walk a certain way, talk a certain way.
A way in which I’m no longer in control but controlled by outside pressure of everyday life and the expectations put on by those who make up the culture in which I live.

The world says my body should be loved a certain way, be touched a certain way, be used in a way that feels good as if feeling good is what this life is about.

And so……I follow.

I eat less, I drink more, I surgically enhance, and diligently advance my appearance to be acceptable to those looking on.

I medicate, I run, I diet, I lift, I spend….and I spend……and I spend.

I alter my body to fit into the mold they expect.

I look in the mirror and I hate what I see.
This person in the mirror overtaken with controversy.
I’m obsessive, suicidal, covetous, jealous, angry.
I barely recognize the person staring blankly back at me consumed by greed, selfishness, and lust

Lust – a passionate or overmastering desire or craving…..
To have an intense yearning or desire for…

Lust:

I lust:

I lust for power. I lust for fulfillment, for money, for pleasure, for treasure on this physical earth.

If I just had the money, the power, the sex, the cars, the houses….material possessions in an effort to mask what’s inside.
Becoming ever more hollow and lonely but beautifully and masterfully decorated in the image of a culture that defines my every move made by this physical body

My body

A living sacrifice or a walking disaster

I am a moving, living, breathing, contradiction.

My spirit says I belong to God but is being held captive by my flesh, that as I toil to perfect, this outward appearance suffocates that very spirit living inside me.

And my spirit is down to its last breath….

Part 2:

This is my body

Nothing more than a reflection of you lived out through me

This is my body

An image bearer.
God himself breathed life into this dust so that I can bear the image of the one who created me, knows me, loves me, lives through me.

Through me….Now I See!
I need more of you in me until the you in me is no longer me but just you.

So that now in the mirror its you. When I walk it’s you, when I talk it’s you.
This body is no longer me at all…but you

This mirror no longer suffocates me, deviates me away from the knowledge of the spirit inside. There’s nothing about you that I want to hide.

Our hands that can serve the poor
Our arms to reach the fallen
Our feet that can walk in another man’s shoes, the time has come for me to choose
Give me your ears to hear the cries of the hurting, your eyes to see the ones who feel alone.

No longer am I bound by what I see in this reflection when it’s you I see instead of me all I see is perfection.

Holy, blameless, humble, strong
It’s not about me rather Lord now I long to be used as your instrument for good, for purity, to be a peacemaker, to live out your life.

Now I see that your design for me, for this body, for my body
Is not about an obsession but a genuine reflection of the image of my creator

And because he is……..I can be