Check Your Posture

 "Stop slouching!" Did anybody hear this statement growing up? I know I heard this many times from my Momma! Whenever I wasn't sitting up or standing up straight, Momma Sylvia would say that statement to me. I used to be really bad about slouching when I was younger. Now I'm better about it, but I have to admit that every now and then I catch myself slouching. Every time I do, I hear Momma Sylvia's voice ringing in my ear , "Stop slouching!" That statement was usually followed by sit or stand up straight. I was short(still am 😁) and quiet (still can be depending on the circumstances and who I'm around 😁). I thought slouching would put me in a lower position and make me feel unseen. I thought it would keep me from avoiding the looks of others (which usually didn't work!). You see, growing up, I dealt with low self-esteem and even as an adult to be honest. I didn't feel good about myself. I hadn't learned to embrace who God made me to be. I hadn't fully grasped the fact that God made me unique and peculiar for a purpose. I hadn't fully embraced that I was beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made and I was enough ( I still am!) 💖. You see, slouching was my go to posture. Posture is defined as the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting. Another definition of posture is our attitude or approach in dealing with something. When we slouch, we are in a lazy, droopy position. Today, I want to talk about how we should physically and spiritually check our posture. Physically, it's important that we stand and sit up straight. Our back will hurt us if we slouch for a long period of time. When we're physically standing and sitting up straight, we're in a position to better see what's in front of us and pay attention to what needs our focus. We can look in the direction we're going with our head high. When we're bent or drooped over, you can only see what's down on the floor or ground. In other words, you can see what's below you, but not above you. We're not meant to settle for the minimum. We should desire the best because God wants the best for us 😊. The Scripture speaks about it in Ephesians 3:20- "Now to him who he is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." God wants to do more for us, but we can't be in a position where we're looking down. In the Bible in Luke 13:10-13, we see that there was a woman who had been physically bent over for 18 years and could not straighten up. She had been slouching for a really long time! Jesus sees this woman in the church where he was teaching and tells her she is free from her disability and lays his hands on her. Immediately, her position changes to standing and she begins to praise God 👏! When we first see this woman had this condition for 18 years, we might think, "Wow! That's a really long time to be bent over!". I agree that it definitely is! Then, I started thinking, "Is there old mindsets, attitudes, and habits that have been in a position (or place) in our lives for far too long? We can be free from these old ways when we let Jesus touch our lives like he did with the woman. Low self-esteem, shame, what people think of me, complaining, people approval and comparison no longer have to have me in a bent over position. You too don't have to bend over to what is wrong, unhealthy, and not beneficial. There are things that had a hold on us last year that we can't let have a hold on us this year. Instead, we can learn to have a spiritual posture to what is right, good, healthy and helpful 💜. The only time we should be bent physically over on purpose is in prayer 🙏. On our knee's praying is one of the best positions we could find ourselves in. The posture of prayer is needed at all times (I Thessalonians 5:17). Let's ask ourselves daily as we move forward: "How's my posture?" "Physically, am I sitting and standing up as straight as possible?" "Spiritually, what habits, attitudes and thoughts am I bent over and leaning to?" "Am I in the posture of prayer daily?" My prayer for you and I as we continue to move forward is to be set free from the old and lean to the new 🙏. May God bless you!