I’m growing up! Do you want to know how I know? For Mother’s Day last month, I asked for a new pair of work pants. Like, office casual, basic professional attire. Not a new pair of headphones, or a day at the spa, but work pants! While shopping for said work pants, I came across a gorgeous pair of white wide legged trousers. YES! I would love to own these, but I wisely hung them back on the rack, knowing that I am not there yet. I do not yet live the life or maintain enough self-awareness to not totally destroy such a beautiful and vulnerable garment.
While being a youth pastor typically places me in t-shirts and jeans, I also have a small portion of my wardrobe dedicated to more messy projects, like painting and building. Today, while working on a project for our church family, I knew I would be using black paint. This morning I decided to wear my “painting pants.” These pants have been worn while painting many times, and you can count the projects by the different color finger swipes and accidental splatters which adorn the light colored denim. I do not wear these pants to the church office not only because it’s not office attire, but because they put me in a project mood. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out.
When I’m at home, and I’m cleaning my house, I wear my cleaning rubber gloves and tennis shoes. I feel like I can tackle any grime on any surface, indoors and out. What I wear, can determine the length and efforts I will afford a given opportunity. If I was wearing my new, super cute work pants, and someone handed me a paint brush and asked me to paint, I would have to politely decline, or ask for a few minutes to run home and change. If I knew I was about to have a meeting with a family in our church, and I was wearing my work pants, I would take the time to put on the clothes that are more appropriate to eliminate distractions.
Every day you have a choice of what you will put on as you go about your day, and what you choose will often dictate the type of encounters you will be willing to have. Do you wear patience? Do you wear kindness? Do you wear a “whatever it takes” work ethic when it comes to loving other people? If we just wear a “whatever it takes to be comfortable and safe” mentality, we may be missing the opportunities God places before us because we were not spiritually dressed. I think of the story of the good Samaritan, who was the 4th person recorded to come aware of a man who desperately needed help. We do not know the exact reasons why the 3 people who passed by on the other side did so, but we can speculate. Maybe they were in a hurry. Maybe they were afraid of being unclean. Maybe they were afraid of the robber coming back. Impatience, self-centeredness, judgement, and fear are not the garments that Jesus wore.
If I had chosen those white pants, I would most likely be overly self-aware all day, and immediately change into something more comfortable when I got home. Those fruits of the spirit and a heart of love, truth and worship are not supposed to be taken off. But it is sometimes helpful, to create an awareness that these are the garments you are choosing to wear. Because sometimes, without that pre-awareness, we may leave our house without the intention to serve God and love others, and we may miss a chance to do just that. So what are you putting on today?
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