Speaking in Church

N spoke to our congregation for about 5 minutes on Sunday. I wrote last week about our concern regarding his topic, "the body is sacred." We decided that it would be okay for him to speak regardless of the difficulty he might have with this topic. In the end he did really well. He wrote the talk himself and we reviewed it with him. He didn't seem nervous at all -- even though he said he was.

Our church has a health code based on a modern-day revelation called the "Word of Wisdom." You may have heard before, that members of our church have statistically longer life-spans than the general population. Anyway, this health code talks about not drinking alcohol, tea or coffee, as well as choosing whole grains and other whole foods. It also talks about the importance of taking care of your body and treating it like a temple. N talked about the Word of Wisdom briefly and also covered some additional topics as discussed by our prophet. His talk didn't in any way engage the anorexia. In fact, I thought it emphasized many good principles about loving our own bodies and treating them accordingly.

There were three other speakers during our Sacrament service. One discussed the food pyramid as it echoes many principles found in the Word of Wisdom. N said he listened carefully to this talk and was proud of himself for already knowing all the information. The most problematic speaker told a story that went on forever about a woman who was fat, who felt fat, and felt judged. My husband and I exchanged glances (which N saw and knew what they meant) concerning this talk. However, the story ended with the woman eventually being able to attend the temple and feeling beautiful there. She talked about realizing that God gave her a body and that for her to treat it badly or look down on herself meant she hadn't recognized the gift that her body was. She changed her whole attitude about her body at that point. We talked at length with N about this talk. Fortunately, he got the best part of the message from it. He said that God gave him his body and he needs to treat it better and not think badly about it.

If only it was as simple as deciding this. I know it isn't. Perhaps, though, this knowledge can serve as additional mental ammunition against the anorexia.