The Blessing of a Physical Body

Here is another great quote from the CES fireside talk given by Merrill J. Bateman in 2006.

"The physical body is one of the great gifts of mortality. The scriptures teach that the body is not only important for this life but also for eternity. During mortality the body can be a temple of God in that it may house the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit leads one to the celestial kingdom. The body is so important in the eternities that Christ gave His life to overcome physical as well as spiritual death. In so doing, He made possible a resurrection for everyone.

Joseph Smith said: “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body.”

... The physical body is an instrument of the mind. President Boyd K. Packer taught this concept in a CES satellite broadcast three years ago.  Many acts of love, kindness, and service require the physical body. These physical acts not only bless others but also oneself. A personage of spirit is able to do many things, but the physical body increases the range of activities that can be performed. In fact, President Joseph F. Smith, in his vision of the spirit world, learned that “the dead . . . looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 138:50). In other words, there will be actions we cannot take after death before the Resurrection, and we will look and yearn for the return of that physical body and the freedom that it brings."

Whenever I start to feel sad because my body doesn't work I think of the story in the Bible where the evil spirits possessed the pigs. Because they wanted a body so badly.

Mark  5: 9-13
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

It reminds me of how blessed I am to have a body, regardless of whether it's broken and doesn't work properly. There are still things I can do to serve the Lord, and be an influence for good on others. At least that is my goal.

That's my two cents.