I’ve never been that attached to clothes. My mom has always gotten upset with me for going on cleaning sprees and getting rid of so many of my clothes for no apparent reason or simply because I feel like I have too many of them.
Evidently that’s changed.
A week ago I was folding laundry to put it away..and the only thing I fold are t-shirts which somehow fill two full drawers at school (with some at home) because Berry gives us so many shirts. So.many.
While doing so I was thinking about the clothes that I’d take on the Race – minimal amounts, of course – and which shirts would “make it.”
It’s hard for me to admit this, but I got a bit choked up about it. Not all of my t-shirts are my favorites, but I have about 15 that I wear on a regular basis. My CR shirts, my Passion shirt, both my frocket* shirts, earth day shirts, highlighter yellow v-neck, all my various Relay shirts, my tie dye shirts, and a few others. It’s kind of nuts. I know I can’t take them all with me. And I know I need to get rid of most of them because I won’t wear them when I get back, but just thinking about it made me tear up.
I finally got a big trash bag and put quite a few of my clothes in there with the help of my best friend, Sarah, but when we got to the scarves that I made we both lost it. We legitimately sat in my floor and cried for about twenty minutes. Half of that was because I’m leaving in 4.5 months and we’re really close. It’s going to be really tough on both of us. But honestly, I was crying because I probably will only bring one scarf on the race IF I bring one, so I’ll be leaving/selling the rest.
Then I thought about shoes – I have quite a few…not as many as most people, but I have at least 10-15 pair that I wear or at least like to keep around. That number will be maybe 3 or 4 for the entire trip.
Then I realized what was going on: clothes have become an idol of comfort for me. Rather than anchoring my peace in the author of peace, I’m putting it in some cotton poly-blended shirts and scarves and shoes. What?! Where did that come from??
Joshua says “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” -> if that’s the case, then why am I finding my peace and comfort in t-shirts?! To top it all off..THEY’RE T-SHIRTS! Not my favorite pair of jeans or my favorite nice shirt or my favorite sweatshirt, though I’m sure if I thought long enough I could come up with that, too. No, it’s t-shirts over the AUTHOR of PEACE.
I’ve got a lot of learning to do. And a lot of trusting in the wrong things that needs to change.
My action step: clear the stage. Get rid of the shoes I never wear and the t-shirts I’ll never wear and the scarves that I already barely wear (because Georgia doesn’t have a winter basically) and replace them with God.
