"7" Articles of clothing

The experiment of "7" continues. Actually I'm 2 months behind on my reporting...I have kids, sue me ;)


During the month of March my wonderful book group and I tackled 7 articles of clothing - only allowing ourselves to wear 7 designated articles of clothing for 4 weeks...that's 4 solid weeks, my friends, of the same 1-3 outfits. Undergarments were off the table because frankly it's none of your business what I have on under my 7 boring articles of clothing! Coats were allotted - we live in Wyoming in, folks. We "cheated" a little and allowed ourselves a pair of shoes - not included in the 7 articles of clothing. NO jewelry, no scarves...no fun at all!


I have to be honest and say I wasn't terribly worried about this month. I'm not really into fashion, I don't wear a lot of jewelry, I pretty much live in sweats anyway...I'm a stay at home mom, don't judge me. I had 3 shirts and 3 pants/bottoms lined up for this fun little experiment. I took my time picking these items out - all picked according to weather, events, and comfort.


After 3 days I was out of clothes. I don't do laundry every day - oh, I COULD do laundry every day, but I don't. So I spent the morning in my bath robe laundering my 7 articles of clothing. At the end of week 1 I was OVER "clothing" - I either had to wear dirty clothes or do laundry ALL the time to keep up with it. After 2 weeks my favorite jeans started to "fade something fierce", my striped thermal was stretched out and my husband couldn't stand the sight of my long grey sweater. This "easy" little experiment was kicking my butt and taking names. It was really hard to keep going!

One of the points of these experiments (there are many lessons to be learned!) is to turn to God in our time of weakness. To lift our struggles up to Him. To lean on His strength when we feel weak, not good enough, unattractive, selfish, frumpy! To realize that our beauty lies in Him - that our inner beauty is far more important than our outer beauty. To take a step back and realize that the closet in front of you, completely stuffed to the gills, is unnecessary. To pray for those who only have 2 articles of clothing - and I guarantee that's the least of their problems. The point for me was to realize that God works in our hearts and in our minds. He sees beauty through our acts of kindness, our willing hearts, our eagerness to be close to Him. He doesn't see beauty through articles of clothing and jewelry. He doesn't measure our worth through accessories and designer shoes.
He designed our hearts to show our true beauty.


Heavenly Father,
I pray you will forgive us for putting so much importance on outer beauty. I know that wasn't your design. I know that's not how you see and measure the beauty of your children. I pray that I will continue my walk with you through this life knowing that you gave me compassion and kindness and a willingness to serve you and THAT is truly beautiful. Glory be to you, Father. Amen.