I love to garden, but I have to admit that I’ve let the patch of land in front of my house go wild recently. It’s easy to care for the back yard because I am there more often and I can let my kids play while I work. The front is easy to forget about and neglect. And it’s what everyone else sees!
I see a parallel to other parts of my life. I might work very hard at my job and be very successful—and let my body go ignored. It’s not convenient or always possible to do the maintenance I need to do with that part of my life. It’s easy to forget about it, to neglect it. But my body is what everyone else sees. Furthermore, it’s the house that my soul will live in until I die. I have every reason in the world to take care of it, even if I forget that sometimes. It’s precious.
I’m reminded of something I’ve told my voice students from time to time. It’s easy to abuse your voice, especially if you’re at a lot of sports games, taking long road trips, or trying to sing like Aretha Franklin. If you blast your voice louder than it should be blasted, over time it will do some damage. Can you imagine a talented violinist setting the most valuable violin in the world on the floor, and stomping it to pieces? The thought makes me cringe. And yet, there are times people do similar hurt to their voice. Even an extremely valuable violin can be replaced. Never a voice.
Neither can a body be replaced. Sure there are times when we eat too much or don’t exercise enough. But eventually we have to get to work, weed out the garden so to speak, and take care of our bodies. Then maintain those weeds and keep them away! We cannot be replaced.
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