I’m about as laid back a person as they come. I’d rather be in jeans and a sweatshirt than doll it up. Dolling it up means being uncomfortable, having to sit proper, shoes that hurt with the possiblity of twisting an ankle and not being able to touch my face so I don’t look like a raccoon. Why would anyone choose to do that? I prefer sitting on the floor playing with the kids or animals. Or sitting with my leg underneath me. Or playing outside on the swingset or sandbox. I do my best work at work on casual days because I’m comfortable. I have always said that I would wear my pajamas to work if they’d let me. I’m really just a kid at heart and when I’m 80 I’ll find the nearest sandbox and make the biggest sand castle I can.
So I was excited about the World Race. Excited I would be able to wear jeans and t-shirts everyday and not have to worry about clothes. Then I got the packing list. The manual says I will probably need to wear skirts about 50% of the time. Really?? They’re kidding right?? I’m going to have to wear things I wouldn’t be caught dead in? It was obvious I was going to need to get some and since I probably won’t wear them when I get back (actually they probably won’t make it back to the states) I wasn’t going to spend a lot of money. So goes the first trip to Salvation Army with my mom, sister-in-law and both nieces. We did good and I actually came home with 4 skirts (one of which I’m modeling below), a pair of jeans and a pair of capris. Not bad.
But I still needed to get a few things. So my mom and I made a quick trip to another second hand shop not far from her. I picked out capris and some jeans. I look for a changing room and don’t see one so I ask one of the clerks where it is. There isn’t one which surprised me since they have an entire store full of clothes. She then informed me I could get a really big skirt and try them on underneath. Armed with this new information I went back to my mom and told her what she suggested. She looked at me, I looked at her, we both shrugged and said “Let’s find a skirt!” I wish we had taken a camera with as it was hysterical watching me drop my pants under the skirt, put on something new, lift up the skirt for mom’s approval, drop the skirt, drop the pants and start all over again. And every single time I would say, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” At one point I had to have her pull the jeans over my sandals because I was laughing too hard. I felt like I was giving everyone a free show though my mom assured me I wasn’t.
Though as funny as that scene was, I am reminded that I will have more on my back than most of the people I meet have in their homes. I’ll be taking only 10 days of clothes with me. I’ll have only one rain jacket and one warm jacket. Most poor people (outside the U.S.) have one maybe two outfits that they wash every night. I’ll have at least 2 pair of shoes while many have none. And my tent will be nicer than most of their homes. I will be rich to them and yet I will feel poor. I pray that the longer I’m in the field that my priorities change and I understand that my stuff is just that – stuff.
So no – a beauty queen I’m not. But I am rich in heart, love, humor, goofiness and most importantly rich in God. And that is what I want to share with others. It certainly won’t be my fashion sense or the latest hair style. It will be my simple wish of letting others know that God loves them and then showing them that He does.
