I meant to do this as a Mother's Day post, but life ran away from me. Consider this a very late gift, Mom! ;)
I came out of my room on a beautiful Sunday morning feeling very satisfied with myself. I'd been clever enough to plan out the day's wardrobe earlier in the week and everything had gone together effortlessly. My white blouse and white/navy polka-dot skirt matched and I slipped on my heels without deliberating for 15 minutes over which pair best completed my outfit. Plus, I had on a new necklace and and earring set I had just made, which I had specially adjusted so that it fit well in the neckline of my blouse. I felt like I had everything together.
Then I trouped into mom's room to get what I thought would be a quick approval so I could run and eat before we left. Not so. Mom was looking at me with her "furrowed brow" face. Uh oh.
She began slowly, "Amanda, I'm not sure about that shirt..."
My first impulse is to sigh and begin explaining to her why it is perfectly all right, how I wore it only two nights ago when we had company and how she's just not used to summer fashions and exposed camisoles yet. Come on, don't I look lady-like and well put together?
Mom isn't so sure. It might be ok for other occasions, but she doesn't like the sheerness of the shirt, showing my camisole underneath. Just not for church. She reminds me to remember that there's lots of young girls there who look up to me and follow my example.
By now it has crossed my head that maybe God is trying to take down me down a peg. But, not yet willing to give it up, I run down to the basement where Pa is busy preparing music for the service and demand, "What do YOU think?", hoping that his opinion will be different. It's not.
Growling, I storm up the stairs, fuming at the world for being so darn picky and not letting me wear what I want. I say some things I shouldn't. I slam my bedroom door.
By the time I have changed my outfit (grimly taking extra care that it will meet the approval of the entire universe) I'm feeling rather bad. It's not like my parents are unreasonable. They don't expect me to put a bag over my body so that nothing but my head and feet show. There's been many times where I've been unsure about an article of clothing, tried to push my uncertainties away and then had them confirmed by my parents in such a way that I KNEW that I was the one who was wrong. In all possibility, it's probably ME who is off-kilter right now.
I go downstairs, get ensemble approval and apologize. And then I really start to think about why I wear what I wear and why I need to listen to the advice and counsel of my parents.
In Matthew 12: 33-37, Jesus says, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.""Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." I think that this can also be applied as, "Out of the overflow of the heart, the body dresses." No joke.
The way we dress is very important. The condition of our hearts, is, of course, the most important, but I am convinced that our motives for the way we dress reflect who we are inside and are influenced directly by what we believe and our ways of thinking.
I am rather rebellious by nature and often enjoy doing things for "the shock factor", seeing how close to the edge I can push things and get a reaction. I need to be very careful of this tendency when it comes to what I wear. The really scary thing is that lots of times our real inward reasons for doing things get lost in words of excuse and just plain carelessness. It doesn't always enter my head that I am specifically doing/saying/wearing something out of rebellion or the desire to make a sensation. I've had to train myself to ask this question over and over again;
"For what reason am I wearing/doing/saying this? Am I striving to glorify God or myself?"
This is where our parents come in. You have to admit that when you are not closely or emotionally caught up in a situation, it's almost always easier to see the right and the wrong. On that momentous Sunday, I had planned my outfit out long in advance, spent a deal of time getting ready and was very satisfied with my finished appearance. I had become emotionally caught up in the entire ordeal and came to show off my ensemble to my parents with my head full of frilly thoughts that I had "dressed" myself up in. My parents, on the other hand, were able to look at me at face value and make a clearer decision about the suitableness of my dress for the occasion.
And they were right. :)
So, be encouraged - we are all on the journey of "to be or not to be?" a.ka. to wear or not to wear/to do or not to do/to say or not to say (and et cetera) as we strive to honor God and His Word in our daily lives. It's a long and complicated journey and one that I am thankful my parents are able to share with me. And even if we don't always agree, I believe that it is important to honor my parents, because God has clearly promised that if we do, "your days will be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12
Sounds good to me! ;)
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