A Fashion Dilemma Diverted

I stood in my closet with my hands on my hips, wrapped in a robe with a towel swirled around the wet hair on my head.

“I don’t know what to wear,” I moaned rather loudly to my husband in the other room.  “I don’t even remember what I wore last week!  I don’t want to wear the same thing twice!”

I needed to get out the door, get the kids to school, and get to the Women’s Bible Study that I am currently teaching at my church.  It was week four of the six week series I have been working on, and it wasn’t that I didn’t have clothes to wear, I just was getting hung up on what to wear.  And for whatever reason, I didn’t want to risk a repeat. Who knows why. 

As I stood there expressing my wardrobe woe to my husband, not really expecting a solution from him nor a response I heard him say,

 “Andrea?” ( ---- long pause -----)

 “I bet Jesus wore the same thing every time He preached.”

I almost fell over laughing as the burden of wearing the right thing, or the same thing, was completely lifted off my shoulders. It brought it all in to perspective. Sure, it wasn’t completely unreasonable for me to want to look presentable, but it was probably just fine if I wore the same thing twice!

Phew! What a relief!  A fashion dilemma diverted!

How silly and superficial of me.  Apparently, I had a momentary loss of memory (or judgment), forgetting that it wasn’t so much about the messenger as it was about the truth of my message, which was for that day – God’s grace is Amazing.

It was God’s grace on top of grace for me – right there and then.  He was reminding me of my priorities, making me laugh, and giving me freedom to wear whatever and not worry about what someone may think of me if I stand up in front – again – with the same outfit on. It’s okay.

That morning I shared the story with my friend Debbie, and then with the 140 women at the study.  They all laughed, while I stood there laughing at myself.

The next day Debbie sent me a message. “Dear Andrea, I can’t help thinking about what you said this past Wednesday and I came up with a new slogan.  WWJW – What Would Jesus Wear?  What do you think?”

I love it!  A play on WWJD, and quite funny, I will say.

So, dear friend, next time you are feeling like you are having a major fashion dilemma as you step forth to share the love of the Lord (or just are going about your day in His service) remember WWJW?  It just may take a lot of pressure off of you, for really, it does not matter what you wear when you are doing His work. It really is all about Jesus.

Numbers Dancing Around in My Head

Time for true confessions --  

I am rather competitive. 

You see,  I can be a bit competitive (okay, more than a bit) at the starting line of a race.  My blood begins to race, I get these tingling twitches in my legs, and I start seeing through the lens of the eye of the tiger. I just can’t help it.

However, this competitive spirit can rear its ugly head in some not so favorable ways.  Somewhere along the way, it morphs in to something totally different. Rather than competing in a healthy way, I start to compete against myself which gradually turns in to me defining myself by my successes and degrading myself for what I view to be failure.

Specifically, it’s been about my blog lately.  Two years ago, this month, I started it for three reasons (not necessarily in this order):

#1:  I love to write.

#2:  I felt the Lord impress on my heart to write for Him the things about Himself, life and myself that He shows me.

#3:  I love to encourage women.  It is my desire and joy to bring truth and hope to them, through the silliness, the seriousness and the sorrows of life.

But here’s the problem -- although I still feel strongly about these three things,  I also began to get caught up in the world of “The Numbers” and lately, they've been dancing around in my head. Yuck.

I started to realize that if I had a lot of “hits” in a day, I felt pretty good about myself. BUT (and it was getting to be a pretty big BUT) if I did not have as many as I hoped for, I would get discouraged and feel like maybe I should hang up the pen.

I went to the Lord (finally) and shared with Him my disappointment in myself. Why was I so easily influenced by numbers?  I knew better, but I couldn’t seem to loosen my grip on determining part of my value by whether lots or little people read my blog.

I knew what I had to do – stop checking the numbers.  I needed to go back to the reasons that I started in the first place. I needed to separate myself from the statistic counter and go with what God called me to do in the first place – write for Him, enjoy the process and trust that He would use it as He deemed fit. 

So, I’m four days in to “fasting from checking the numbers” and I feel better already. I made a commitment to the Lord that I wasn’t going to check until Christmas and I don’t like to break my promises to Him.  After Christmas, I’ll chat with the Lord on how I will handle the next phase.

Hebrews 12 says, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus … consider Him so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” 

I’m taking my eyes off the numbers and off of allowing my successes or failures to determine my value. It’s a challenge, but it’s coming, and in the process I am finding that as I keep my eyes on Jesus, I truly am less prone to growing weary and losing heart and more able to have a healthy perspective on me and the world around me.

Life is full of lessons, isn’t it?   

Did I Just Say That?

I’m still laughing to myself this morning after having ingested a small piece of humble pie, last night.

Two hundred and thirty women gathered for the event, “The Heart of Christmas,” at our Women's Christmas Tea. The mood was set for a night of remembering the true meaning of Christmas through special music, lovely decorations, the men from our church serving, glowing candlelight , a lovely speaker sharing a powerful message and more.

It was my responsibility to welcome the women on behalf of the women of our church and help with the transitions between fellowship, music and the speaker.  It wasn’t a huge deal; it's not like I had to present the main message. I just had to help the women  feel welcome and special .

I began to welcome the women and attempt to quiet the room so that we could get started , and out of my mouth came … “Ladies, we need to quiet down so that we can get on with the show …” I don’t even remember what I said after that.

What I can remember is sitting back down in my chair, having an OBE (out of body experience) – well, not really – but standing back and looking at myself and saying, “Did you really just say that, at this lovely evening filled with spiritual richness?  Let’s get on with the show? Honestly, Andrea.  What is this a circus?”

I tried not to be too hard on myself, but rather laughed and tried to chalk it up to experience and another lesson in humility.  The rest of the night went beautifully and I don’t recall any other verbal snafus, but I will say, it did remind me of the fact that we just don’t know what may come out of our mouths.  I mean it could have been a lot worse than that, but none-the-less, I am still digesting that piece of pie.

Perhaps it was one of those “you had to be there moments for it to be funny,”but the point is we can really say some goofy things at times and unfortunately, at other times we can say some pretty hurtful things. We don’t mean to, but they slip out.   And as I’ve chuckled and pondered this little episode, I am reminded of the value of being humble,  not only about ourselves but extending humility by being gracious to others when they say silly things – or harder yet, hurtful things.

All I can think is “Good thing I have God.” Some of my friends said that they didn’t even notice and when I shared the story (trust me, it’s funnier when I tell the story than write it …) they laughed and said, “Well, It’s just the thing that makes you, you -- real.” 

Perhaps it is that, too, willing to be real and realizing that we are not going to perfectly perform.  Life isn’t a circus and our words are not always scripted to perfection. We all slip up, in alittle and not-so-little ways, but God's grace is bigger in our lives. and in the lives of others.  Let us give each other that grace. Let us receive it, as well.

I need to go, now … and well, “Get on with the show …” of my day. Hope yours is blessed in an unique way.

(PS -- excuse today's picture -- I am not gifted in "food photography" but I tried).

A Fashion Faux Pas

Yuck! I hate being human sometimes. It is the “making mistakes” part that gets old, wouldn’t you say?

I mean, try as we will to do what is right, we just can’t help ourselves. Time and time again, we mess up. Sometimes, it’s just a bit more public than others. That’s what happened to me the other day. So, at the expense of being authentic – I’m hanging out some dirty laundry.

I put on the piece of clothing without even realizing it was within my reach. It didn’t fit nor was it my color, but I wore it anyway and its name was “unkindness with a hint of gossip.” I knew it right away, but I tried to minimize it, rationalize it and even deny it. However, as the hours went by and I increasingly regretted my doing what I did, the clothing began to feel like shrink wrap on my skin, suffocating me of my joy.

I couldn’t shake it off; I needed help. I asked the Lord to forgive me, which I believe He did, but I woke up the next morning with the sense that there was more that needed to be done. Now, I could have stuffed the unwanted piece of clothing in the closet, but I know from years of dirty laundry experience, it would just begin to rot and smell over time. Dirty laundry does not get clean on its own (unfortunately, as I am working through eight loads in this household, today). In addition, I did not want my friends to remember me wearing this unsightly piece of clothing, but the beautiful dress of humility.

I called them up, explained and apologized. They were gracious, of course, and forgave me, just as I anticipated. They said that it was not a big deal and we all make mistakes; I appreciate that, but I needed them to know that I was wrong and I cared enough to say, “I’m sorry.”

Gossip and unkind words (no matter how big or small) are very destructive. They hurt others. They hurt God. They hurt us, as individuals. They distort our ability to love each other and be sensitive to each other’s needs. They are filthy, ugly rags.

What about you? Are you tempted to wear the garment of gossip? If so, STOP. Don’t do it, it is definitely “what not to wear” -- a fashion faux pas. Rather, slip on a garment of grace. Encourage one another, be sensitive to where people have been and are now. In grace, build up rather than tear down. Be assured, a garment of grace is more attractive to wear, fits well and always comes in your perfect color.