On recommendation, I recently read An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. It’s subtitled A Geography of Faith. In the spirit of that lane, rather than offer a review I’ve selected my top highlights and will offer a meditation post for each one. Here’s quote #4:

Our bodies remain God’s best way of getting to us.

Chapter 3, The Practice of Wearing Skin

One might argue there are other ways just as impactful that God gets to us, but Taylor makes an interesting point. Whether through our body loathing, our seasons of suffering, or our comparing our bodies to our neighbor’s, we certainly have many opportunities for more of God.

I believe a good chunk of these opportunities revolve around the work of acceptance. Accepting the diagnosis, the loss, the genes, the future produces humility, alignment, focus, and peace that may only come through the avenue of our bodies.

I’ve had few physical challenges in my 55 years of life. The main one I’ve dealt with in recent years is a Schatzki’s Ring. If that’s a new term to you, you’re not alone. Bottom line: I have to be careful and alert to food getting stuck in my esophagus.

It’s more annoying than anything, but it has caused me to attune to myself and others in ways I hadn’t before. It all started in a Miami restaurant in 2014 when I had no idea what was going all. All I knew was my chest was tightening, and everything I had eaten wasn’t going to stay in my body. Since then this has happened in friend’s homes, multiple restaurants, even on stage this past Sunday. That was weird. Try singing with a wedged orange slice on the verge of shooting out of your mouth-a whole new method of God getting your attention.

I’ve learned many lessons from these situations. I believe the key one is the value of lowering our guards. Here are three lived examples of what I mean:

• Lower your guard rather than hiding behind any sense of embarrassment or shame when you have to excuse yourself from the table.
• Lower your guard rather than exploding in anger or pride when you have to seek help for something you can’t explain or fix.
• Lower your guard rather than ignoring the obvious and making matters worse for you and those in your company.

How does that connect to God getting to me through my body, in this case a Schatzki Ring?

• My guard hinders his releasing my shame.
• My guard halts his providing my desperately needed healing.
• My guard eliminates his growing and maturing me and therefore my community.

May we pray, “God, even in my body, get to me however you want. I’m all yours.”