Busting Out of the Closet

Girlfriends, the struggle is real.  My addiction to cute clothes goes way back.  I love shopping and buying the latest fashions.  I have always had multiple closets exploding with clothes as I continually bought more.  I love the thrill of getting a box of new clothes delivered to my door from an online shopping spree or carrying out several bags from the department store!

I see the fashions on TV and, living in a college town, I see the young girls with all the cutest and latest.  And this old gal wants them, too.  I want to be the one that everyone looks at and thinks…“I want to be like her!” or “Isn’t she so stylish in that outfit?!”  It’s a deep, down desire to have really nice, expensive, stylish clothing.

(I say all this while standing here typing in my favorite old sweats…but, nonetheless…)

Until the last few years, this has been my lifestyle.  I still want to look cute (who doesn’t?), but my journey to have a “gentle and quiet spirit” has led me down some crazy paths…some paths I’d rather not have traveled.  This is one of them.

Now when I look in my closet, I wonder what I have that will be pleasing to my Father.  Don’t get me wrong…I still desire to buy beautiful, flashy, fashionable clothes, but now I look for clothes that allow others to focus on my spirit instead of my body.  It’s important for others to notice my countenance, my heart, my characteristics and not my outer beauty.  Sure I want to be pretty.  In fact, if I don’t try to look pretty, I’m letting my husband down…because he married a woman that looked a certain way and to not try to keep up myself for him is just wrong…but that’s a whole new blog in and of itself.

I guess what I’m saying is best summed up in 1 Peter 3: 3-4.

"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."

God never says I can’t have pretty clothes, but He does say that those clothes shouldn’t be all others have to focus on.  And, if the clothes that speak the loudest aren’t in my closet, then I can’t wear them and it’s easier for others to hear my heart.  And that’s why it’s important for my heart to be gentle and quiet…so it will speak kindly to others when they hear it.

Quietly Gentled,

Carrie.