Wear love
I don't know about you, but my wardrobe has not been getting much attention. My 'church' clothes have also been in lockdown, unseen on their hangers... not essential. I did a wardrobe 'cull' today and found it easy to toss aside clothes more ruthlessly than before. And now everything's neatly sorted & in order - and it will probably stay that way for a while...
My comfy clothes have been getting out though. :) Exercise pants & tracksuits have had daily workouts, and my faithful ugg boots have been close companions around the house & garden.
It's given me time to think about our recently shifted priorities.
What's essential in this current climate, and what isn't?
A few weeks ago I walked through Manning Mall & noticed my favourite boutique had a rack of clothes marked right down. Really pretty, stylish clothes too. But as I stopped (almost by habit) & looked at all the dresses I realised I most probably would have nowhere to wear them for a while. My desire to buy something new just wasn't there anymore.
All I wanted was to buy my food from Woolies & go home. No more innocent diversions from shop to shop. No more stopping to chat along the way..
When we leave home during a quarantine, I've discovered, we're on a mission to get from A to B, and then quickly back to A - without germs!
Safety is by far the great essential!
If you're anything like me I'm still looking for ways to make a difference, even if it's small.
This might seem really weird to some, and I was probably interfering with the rhythms of nature, but yesterday I went for my morning walk & ended up stopping to watch all the butterflies that were so delicately fluttering around. I've always wondered why they have such short lives on this planet, yet they give so much pleasure - just by existing. Anyway a few minutes later I noticed a blue butterfly caught in the middle of a spiders web. Granted, it was most probably the spiders next lunch, but I felt this was my next 'act of random kindness'. So I saved the butterfly from the web & let it go. The only difference this action made was to the butterfly, but it felt good to save it.
On a more relevant note, today I gave blood for the first time in twelve years! Afterwards I was told that doing this would now help save three people's lives (as there is a shortage in blood donors at the moment). And yes that did feel even better than saving the butterfly!
There are still so many ways we can make a difference in people's worlds, even if its a note popped in a neighbours letterbox!
Back to being clothed - I was reading in Colossians the other day & came across this verse:
"..... clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12
I thought about the 'good old days', and how fun it is to dress up in pretty clothes & leave the house ready for an event :) .... but how are we dressed on the inside? Is God impressed by our outward appearance if our inner appearance is in disarray?
I wonder how beautiful heaven's clothing is? What does tenderhearted mercy look like when it's on? Does it have a colour? If God dresses the flowers, & the butterflies the way He does - than I'm sure these heavenly colours are mesmerising.
Kindness is pastel pink to me. Not sure why, but that's the colour I see. For those who aren't visualistic you won't see anything, but I do believe our characteristics have colours from heaven attached to them, because we are clothed with heavenly garments... more beautiful than the natural eye has seen.
What I'm getting at is I want God to love what I'm wearing. I want to strategically put these qualities on so the beauty of that clothing shines through to the outside.
Verse 14 continues with this theme:
"...Above all, clothe yourself with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony."
The power of love is so strong that like this verse says, it unifies us. Love will break through the strongest disagreements & resistance. Because God is love.
This spoke to me in such a way that I felt I had to share this verse especially while we are in this state of social isolation & lockdown.
The more we seek Him, the more we will begin to have those qualities (and inner beauty) that He sees.
And whatever we wear, even if it's trackie dacks, His garments of colour will shine through - and the smallest acts of kindness will bring life & hope to a world who needs it more than ever before.
"Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty." Psalm 104:1
My comfy clothes have been getting out though. :) Exercise pants & tracksuits have had daily workouts, and my faithful ugg boots have been close companions around the house & garden.
It's given me time to think about our recently shifted priorities.
What's essential in this current climate, and what isn't?
A few weeks ago I walked through Manning Mall & noticed my favourite boutique had a rack of clothes marked right down. Really pretty, stylish clothes too. But as I stopped (almost by habit) & looked at all the dresses I realised I most probably would have nowhere to wear them for a while. My desire to buy something new just wasn't there anymore.
All I wanted was to buy my food from Woolies & go home. No more innocent diversions from shop to shop. No more stopping to chat along the way..
When we leave home during a quarantine, I've discovered, we're on a mission to get from A to B, and then quickly back to A - without germs!
Safety is by far the great essential!
If you're anything like me I'm still looking for ways to make a difference, even if it's small.
This might seem really weird to some, and I was probably interfering with the rhythms of nature, but yesterday I went for my morning walk & ended up stopping to watch all the butterflies that were so delicately fluttering around. I've always wondered why they have such short lives on this planet, yet they give so much pleasure - just by existing. Anyway a few minutes later I noticed a blue butterfly caught in the middle of a spiders web. Granted, it was most probably the spiders next lunch, but I felt this was my next 'act of random kindness'. So I saved the butterfly from the web & let it go. The only difference this action made was to the butterfly, but it felt good to save it.
On a more relevant note, today I gave blood for the first time in twelve years! Afterwards I was told that doing this would now help save three people's lives (as there is a shortage in blood donors at the moment). And yes that did feel even better than saving the butterfly!
There are still so many ways we can make a difference in people's worlds, even if its a note popped in a neighbours letterbox!
Back to being clothed - I was reading in Colossians the other day & came across this verse:
"..... clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12
I thought about the 'good old days', and how fun it is to dress up in pretty clothes & leave the house ready for an event :) .... but how are we dressed on the inside? Is God impressed by our outward appearance if our inner appearance is in disarray?
I wonder how beautiful heaven's clothing is? What does tenderhearted mercy look like when it's on? Does it have a colour? If God dresses the flowers, & the butterflies the way He does - than I'm sure these heavenly colours are mesmerising.
Kindness is pastel pink to me. Not sure why, but that's the colour I see. For those who aren't visualistic you won't see anything, but I do believe our characteristics have colours from heaven attached to them, because we are clothed with heavenly garments... more beautiful than the natural eye has seen.
What I'm getting at is I want God to love what I'm wearing. I want to strategically put these qualities on so the beauty of that clothing shines through to the outside.
Verse 14 continues with this theme:
"...Above all, clothe yourself with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony."
The power of love is so strong that like this verse says, it unifies us. Love will break through the strongest disagreements & resistance. Because God is love.
This spoke to me in such a way that I felt I had to share this verse especially while we are in this state of social isolation & lockdown.
The more we seek Him, the more we will begin to have those qualities (and inner beauty) that He sees.
And whatever we wear, even if it's trackie dacks, His garments of colour will shine through - and the smallest acts of kindness will bring life & hope to a world who needs it more than ever before.
"Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty." Psalm 104:1
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