I can breathe, think, walk.  All of my organs work.  My skin protects me and is a barrier against infection.  I can run around, ride a bike, ride a horse, play frisbee, row a boat, and hike up a mountain peak.  I can use my fingers to play the piano, play the guitar, turn pages of a book, type on the computer, and pick things up.  My arms show love with a hug, and my face shows happiness with a smile or sadness with tears and dull, dark eyes.  My vocal cords vibrate to let me sing and speak.  I can taste and enjoy delicious food.  I can stretch and do yoga to relax.  I can be warmed by a fire and cooled by clear water.  I can hear beautiful music and the sounds of the earth and feel them vibrate through my body.   I can feel the wind on my face, the sun on my skin, and the ocean sand between my toes.  I can dance.  I can look up on the darkest night and count the stars.  I can bear children; my body is used by the Spirit to create new life from nothingness.  My legs let me walk, support me, keep me balanced, and stretch and move.  I can feel, laugh, cry, think, love, hate, fear, wonder, sleep and know I will wake again.  Through it all, my heart keeps beating, my lungs keep breathing.  Let me never say I am not a wonder; let me never forget to love my body as a tool by which I live.

Your Reasons to love your body!!  

"I love my body because it works, I'm not disabled, I'm relatively healthy."  - Iria, 31

"My body helps me teach my students and make a difference in their lives. 
My body helps me do my job that I love so much. My body helps me LIVE LIFE to the fullest!" - Jennifer, 25

"My body helps me express how I am feeling, my body gives me the freedom to express who I want to be, my body is everlasting!!!"  - Amanda, 20

"The thing I love most about my body is my hands. I have beautiful long slender fingers that God sought fit to grace with artistic talent. Sometimes I look at them and am amazed that I have so much talent in those hands and am so grateful that they allow me to communicate what my mouth sometimes cannot."  - Robyn, 27

"My body helps me put my wonderful soul on display!"  - Sara, 18

"I love my body because I was created in the image of God, the most sought out body in the world, and I am made from him in likeness to him."  - Jennifer, 16

"My body is what is keeping me here in this world. Without it my soul would be in another realm. I'm not sure what it may be like there, but for now I enjoy the physical things this earth has to offer."  -Fran, 21

"My body is unique in many ways all of which I love."  -Julie, 14

"I love my body because despite how terribly I have treated it in the past, it is still here & willing to give me another chance."  - Amy, 19

"My body tells me things- when I listen, I hear it telling me what it needs. And by learning to listen, it speaks more and more. That is the most amazing thing I've ever experienced."  -Sunny, 17

"I love my body because it belongs to me... it is the one thing that nobody can ever take from me... and it is unique and mine."  - Susie, 15

"I feel that I am just beginning to love my body, but first I had to learn to admire what was staring back at me in the mirror, and to look back at photos of myself (during my bulimic years, when I thought I looked obese and ugly, at that time) and realize now that I wasn't fat, I wasn't ugly, just unhappy. I love my body for letting me overcome this demoralizing illness!!!!"  -Julie, 29

"I know my body is the only body I will ever have in this life-time and I will not listen to those in the media and all others who lie to me to try and to influence me that my body is "second rate" in any way shape or form. How stupid would it be of us to spend the rest of our lives hating our bodies? What a waste of time. We have to be strong in our minds. I know this is hard...but we can do it.  I treat my body with the respect and love that it deserves. It is unique and truly beautiful in it's own way. This is the truth for myself and for all of us. Don't let ANYONE make you hate your body or yourself! Think about this ... don't let anyone make you hate yourself."  - Janie, 30

"Because the world is so thrilling and vibrant, and my body allows me to experience it at the most basic deliciously sensuous level; because my body is elastic, can twist and wiggle and play; because I'm in it!"  - Melanie, 20

"I love my body because even with all of it's flaws, it is a work of art like no other."  - Trish-Marie, 44

"I love my body because it enables me to dance and free my soul for a few instances of the harsh day I've been through." - Marie, 17

"I love the way that no matter how I am feeling about my body I can put on fancy underwear and feel beautiful and sexy. and I love the fact that I can blame stretch marks, curvy hips and saggy breasts on my babies, and that makes them wonderfully proud symbols of motherhood."  - Julie, 23

"I love my body because it is healthy for the most part. I also love my body because God designed it the way He wanted it to be, it is the way it's supposed to be. (Psalm 139:13-18)"  - Amanda, 21

"I'm not really sure that I love my body . For a long time people have been calling me fat or a cow or a pig. Even my father tells me "oink-oink". It really makes me sad. Sometime I hate myself and sometimes when I actually forget about my weight or being fat I have fun and I feel "normal", like when I was little. and I love it!"  - Lisa, 14
Note from Steph - Hold on to that good feeling, Lisa!!  You are precious and beautiful simply because you are alive!

"I love my body because God created it!!!"  - Heather, 19

"I love my body because it is my temple, a work of art that I see as beautiful, and something I know no one else could ever duplicate."  - Francesca, 18

"Most of the time I love my body. I feel free in it, and it works beautifully. But then, I'm struck with these messages saying, "You're overweight, but that's okay - I still love you." And then I realize that my boyfriend would really be impressed and happy if I lost weight. Really he would. Then I look down at myself and I shut my eyes and I FEEL myself inside - like my soul - and I'm confused. Why all these double messages? I'm terrific!! I know my boyfriend would really like me to lose weight - (at least for God's sake don't gain any more!!) - What's the matter with him? Can't he see anything past the commercials? I'm here. It's me. And I'm really something! But if I could just lose some weight......where does it end? My body's not the problem." - Elizabeth, 36

"I love my body because it carries my spirit around." - Jemitra, 25

"Because deep down inside my body ,there is a little girl who never gives up. She is always full of hope and desires to love just as she is. Yet she is determined to find out how." - Chrissy, 28

"I love my body because it's a part of me and because I want to love it. I want to love it the way I love leaves on a tree and the fog rolling in over the city, in it's natural beauty. Not for what it can one day become but for what it is. I love my body because I try to every day. I work out to make my body strong because that is my favorite thing about it." - Johanna, 26

"I love my body because it houses my soul." - Beth, 30

"I love my body...I am trying to love it. I am greatful tht it has put up with the abuse that I have subjected it to." - Dawn, 27