Friday, January 23, 2009

My Socks Don't Match My Shirt

An attention-getting headline, right? Well, the four-year old little girl I care for is very conscious of colors and matching her clothes. So of course, she checks out what everyone is wearing so she can gather data (no doubt!) on what really does look good together and what doesn't.

I'm not a fashion plate by anyone's definition. My daughter, now 24, managed to educate me pretty well over the years about what was and was not acceptable for any given event, locale, season, etc. I'm not an embarassment to anyone - at least not that they've told me!

I'm sorry, I nanny for three toddlers . . . I don't usually worry whether my socks match whatever shirt I happen to wear on any given day--or even each other! It is frankly the least of my concerns on those days:-) I never really thought about it making a difference until I got called on it one day by . . . you guessed it!

When you're four years old, things like that really matter. When your mom has told you that something you have just picked out and put on doesn't go together, it bugs you when others in your life don't have to match all the time. I get it. Really I do.

I can't help but think of all the times I judged others, not whether their socks matched their shirt, but by other standards that are just as petty. Those types of things are insignificant in God's eyes. We are not to use the wisdom of this world to form our opinions of others. And yet I do. Often. More often than I care to admit.

I'm growing in my faith development, though. I'm really trying to see others through the eyes of the One who created me and all the other people in this world with me. I really do attempt to view others as God would. It's not easy. It's really hard work. But to do otherwise gives power to the evil one. It also diminishes me as a person.

As Christians, we are to build each other up. We are to spread the Good News. We are not to conform to earthly standards. Our standard should be the Cross. And then we need to remember that the One who hung there did so for me and my sins.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. [Romans 12:2 NIV]

3 comments:

  1. I was just thinking of this the other day. If I see a clean cut man in "workout" clothes walking down the street I think he's exercising. But if I see a scruffy man in jeans walking down the street I think "I bet he lost his license." I mean really?!? I can be very judgementally and petty. And I match my socks to my clothes. :-)

    But I'm working on it.

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  2. I like your application here. I, too, work with three and four year olds and get called on things quite often, or sometimes they turn it on their parents. "But Mrs. Guthrie says..."! :)

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  3. Kids.... gotta love 'em. My son is also "guilty" of pointing out my outfits and requesting I don't be seen with him in public in work clothes (he was only 6 when he started this). Amazing the bad habits we teach kids without even realizing it.

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