If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:19
We had a wedding extravaganza this weekend that started on Friday and went through Sunday. Friday was the wedding with a dinner reception, Saturday was the outside BBQ celebration, and Sunday was finishing it off with a breakfast for those who stayed. I just wanted to spend a few minutes explaining the fashion attire for my family.
Friday we needed to be more dressed up. My hubby cringes when he thinks suits. Unless he’s specifically told that he has to wear one, it simply isn’t going to happen. Friday’s event was only for adults. Once the boys saw that we were getting dressed up, they were pretty happy not to be included. They definitely take after their dad!
I wore a long, flowy dress and my hubby conceded to a tie with his dress pants and shirt. I had one problem. Every time I went to stand up, I had to make sure to gather the material so that I didn’t step on it. I forgot a couple of times and got jerked back to a sitting position pretty quickly! I can’t say I wear dresses too often.
Saturday’s celebration was a more casual affair that included my boys. There were still quite a few who were a bit more dressed up, but in general shorts and a nice shirt would do. Let me start out by telling you that my oldest was camping with scouts, but we picked him up to go to the BBQ for a while. Therefore, he was in manly man mode.
I made him go to my parents’ house to shower and get dressed. I had his clothes for him, so I figured we’d be good to go. He walked out with a knife hanging from his side and a belt with a big buckle that didn’t really go with the outfit. I vetoed the knife, although he still kept one tucked inside his pocket I noticed. I had to do the “you-be-you” with the big belt buckle.
We were one of the firsts to get there, and they needed some help getting everything dealt with because it started raining and storming. The next thing that I see is that wonderful, oldest son of mine running around wearing a garbage bag with slots cut out for his head and arms. Guess that knife came in handy. Oh boy. I will give it to him that he stayed pretty dry. As everybody is in his or her nice clothes, there’s my son in his garbage bag.
There are two things that I kept thinking about while looking back on the past couple of days. First had to do with my dress. My dress was a lot like our thoughts. If we let them drag down, they’re likely to get caught there and won’t permit us to stand tall.
Second was my son’s garbage bag fashion statement. He went with practicality over fashion. How many times do we “conform” to not make waves, but get drowned in the process? There are times when God needs us to be different…in our actions, in our words, in our thoughts.
I challenge you to keep your thoughts from dragging on the ground so they don’t jerk you down there with them. I also hope you think about when it’s important to not just go along with what everyone else is saying and doing. Be the one to take that first step in the right direction and many will probably follow. Even if they don’t, you’ll know that God’s pleased with your thoughts and behavior.
