When I step out of the shower all clean I don't reach for and put on my same dirty clothes. I have clean clothes ready to put on and wear as I go about my day. It would be gross and disgusting to put on dirty clothes especially ones that are filthy, smelly and stained. None of us would be proud to be around others in such stench. Likewise, we wouldn't decide not to wear our grubby garments and walk out the door naked. We need to grab something else to wear. Naked just doesn't work for most of us. There is value in walking out the door feeling confident about our appearance.
The same is true with wearing our negative selves out and about for the world to see. We need to take off and leave behind what is ugly and step into a crisp, new attitude. So the question Kay Daigle had in my morning Bible study was this. What do I have in my life that I need to leave on the bathroom floor and what can I grab and wear that would make me not only feel better but be more presentable to others? What could I replace the unappealing with that would be appealing to others and satisfying to myself?
For me the dirty clothes is jealousy and the laundered would be gratitude. Which boils down to fear and needs to be discarded for acceptance/faith. Talking to a couple of friends who told me their dirty laundry is anger for one and fear for the other. After a lengthy discussion we determined that each of us with our own laundry actually wears the same dirt of fear and all of our clean duds is acceptance.
Kay suggests we put a little sign on our mirror so every morning we can be reminded to clothe ourselves with the new and disgard the old. This is so practical. Old habits die hard but they can be changed with focus. I need to focus on being the me I want to be and letting go of what makes me anything else.
No more Tide stick or a spritz of cover up smells, I am going to step into a grateful attitude and clothe myself in this preferred mindset.
Colossians 3:12-14 (NRSV)
12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord[a] has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Kay Daigle's study https://bible.org/seriespage/6-seeing-relationships-clouds
In Him,
Joyful
12-6-15
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