Friday, July 11, 2008

In Fashion

When Mark was a baby, he loved to crawl. In fact, Mark loved crawling so much that he was not at all interested in learning to walk. He was a big guy, fast on his knees, and chose not to walk until he was seventeen months old. With a three year old big brother he wanted to follow everywhere, this presented some interesting dilemmas. We soon realized Mark was so eager to keep up with the older children that he would follow them down the concrete driveway oblivious to the fact that his knees were bleeding. With the warm weather of Florida, David and the neighborhood children were outside much of the day. Mark was anxious to tag along.
Our solution to this dilemma was functional, but not very pretty. It was too hot for the boy to wear long pants, so we took some of Rob’s knee high athletic socks and used suspenders to hold them in place. Mark crawled on, happy to be able to keep up and mom and dad content to see his knees no longer bleeding, but he was quite a sight. He was a fashion blunder waiting to be rescued by the latest cable show.
So now you know our son was a functional fashion disaster as a toddler, due to his parents. However, lately I have been thinking of different fashions. What am I clothing myself in each day?
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
Wow, what a list! Humility? Gentleness? Are these even in my closet? Often, I would believe falsely that these are not options for me. Random erroneous thoughts come to me like “just not my personality.” However, that is not the whole truth.
My Father has well outfitted my closet. He has made me holy – still a mind boggling concept for me, but a true one, none the less. He has filled my closet with everything I need to wear each day – including compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. My choice each day is whether or not I want to clothe myself in these things.
Mark’s fashion disaster was a functional one which still brings laughs and fond memories for our family. My life, however, can become a fashion disaster when I choose not to clothe myself in the beautiful things my Father has given me to wear. There will be nothing funny or fond about it, when I choose to ignore the clothes/qualities my Father desires that I wear. Today, I want to go out looking good by choosing the clothes the Father has laid out for me. His fashion sense is always in style.