"I can't help it, I was drawn that way"

This is one of my favorite lines from the greatly amusing movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” in response to a comment on her amazing body. To have a great figure is a blessing and a curse and this line seems to say it all in such a sassy way, perfect for the cartoon character. In real life we all have bodies that come in different shapes and sizes, and we move them in different manners that reflect more our family lineage than even the forms of others in our family. I move similarly to my mother, with the added bonus of a slight swing of a leg that is slightly longer than the other due to a sports injury, the result is comically sexy at times…I can’t help it, it is the result of my parentage and life experience.

When my daughter was all of 5 we were walking to school with our friends when the other mom made a comment on her “swing,” she walks like me without the benefit of injury, she walks with a wiggle. My friend from high school summed it up this way at one time: I’d like to have a swing like that in my back yard, can I have some fries with that shake, and you have a fine swing, who is your batting coach? This is the source of much fun, much razzing by friends, and often makes life unfold in ways that seem to contradict the very people we are. For me a person who has led a religious life, for my daughter one who espouses ideals of feminism, and still we have the walk created by the history and experience of the life we were born into.

Take it one step further and there is the gift of being “drawn” by our creator God with curvy figures that people seem to idealize, but the reality is it is often a greater curse. I remember the final interview through the ministry candidacy process when a sweet well-meaning woman said she could finally approve my candidacy because I looked like a pastor, I was wearing a shapeless vintage suit from Pendleton Woolens of the 1960s. To be professional in the church was to look asexual, once that was accomplished I was ready to serve God. To have the figure of Marilyn Monroe I found was not helpful in a life of the religious, for this one person it meant an extra year and lots of fabric to overcome. The creator draws me one way, and well meaning people want it another way.

With the curves, and with the walk I could feel doomed, for this was only the start of some misadventures in the church regarding my appearance. It takes longer for people to take me seriously, but then why should I take it all so seriously? How to use all that I am to render creative mischief seems in due course now. There have been tragic beauties throughout history, such as Marilyn, who have felt doomed by the response to their figures and forms, but why should I? Especially when it infinitely more fun to play it up to the hilt, render surprise on people in fun ways that cause no harm, but in fact reflect the glory of God. My last memorial service as a pastor serving the UMC was for a biker, it was decided by the family that the look was not tragic black, but biker black. It was great joy for me to hear during the sharing of stories in the memorial service that the "Red is looking down from heaven with joy to have a "hot" pastor" (presiding in boots, tights and short dress).

This week I had the great joy to dance two evenings under the stars, in the beautiful park here in Italy. Here too there is an expectation of how a person who is religious is to be, but less so on my figure and appearance than how to act. I was advised on how to respond if my dance partners were too fresh, because it was bad behavior that was frowned upon. Not only did I get advice, but my friends were there to watch over me like hawks. To dance with enthusiasm while people who cared ensured my safety was a gift. Sure, a few teasing voices about this crazy fun, but dang I felt like David dancing in his ephod with joy before God, and isn’t that just sacred and special!?!?!? To not only have time of great enjoyment, but to have friends who support the wholeness of who we are?

I find that to live fully in my "design" of God life requires a sacred sassyness: intelligence + humor + sexy = sassy, when combined with spiritual it is the depth of sensual for me, sensing all my createdness. To honor the creator who put me in this body, in this soul, with my life experiences and education informing my being is to live a sacred life!

How do you honor the fullness of how God has formed you?
How do you live into your creation with enthusiasm with awe for a God who creates us all unique?