Goodness gracious, from a corner of an American mega airport, I’m thoroughly entertained by the parade of mankind passing by me. My initial reaction was are these people from planet earth? Getting overwhelmed with the flow of folks going against the stream of conventional attire, my mind wandered back to the olden days when clothes were a symbol of respect, not a statement of disregard. Nostalgically, I smiled as I remembered my Mother teaching me white gloves were a necessity for all little girls (big girls too) to don for Sunday church. God deserved worshippers to dress up before we knelt down in His glory. Honestly, I miss those days.
My mind next meandered to the realization that many, currently, are devoted more to proving they are free thinkers in what they wear and what they believe in than they are to claim the cloth of Christ as their robe of identity. The lengths to which humanity goes to establish their personal identity and purpose by looking outlandishly different from others is mind boggling.
Being overloaded with gazing at the preposterous, I retreated to grazing in the pasture of my soul. I asked God to weigh in on why society thinks being different leads to achieving supreme purpose in life. Yes, the world is in dire need of changing, but why does humanity think that to choose to outrageously stand out in a crowd is the path to contentment, harmony, self-assurance, soul assurance, or any significant leadership and accomplishment?
Delivering my query to the Lord, I fell back into His wisdom and listened to His enlightenment. Softly, my soul heard God’s rejoinder: My daughter, My creations (your fellow inhabitants of earth) are correct in realizing the world needs to change and in wanting to change the world. However, their means of doing so is totally wayward. For you see, to change the world, My children do not have to be something they are not. They just have to be the someone I created each to be.
God’s words spoke volumes. Our society has lost its grasp on holding our Heavenly Father’s hand, being beautifully dressed in His righteousness and fashioning our world back into mirroring the reflections of His image.
In my eyes, the sight of the crowd of “out of this world” travelers pacing the concourses of an airport suddenly changed from comical to pitiful. In my heart, the change went from a comedy to a tragedy. In my soul, I now pray the runways of life become a parade of God’s children clothed in the cloth of Christ and leading the wayward prodigal back on track to the greatest destination of all – eternity with God.
As my flight began to board, I put my pencil down and took up a new appreciation for the white gloves my Mom taught my fingers to fill and for my knees, which my Mom showed me how to bend in awe of God, in whose cloth I long to be covered.
“…Clothe yourself with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24 (NRSV)
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 
Beautiful! I remember the gloves and white patten leather shoes (only I’m spring and summer of course, then they were black). I also remember wanting to be different in my teen age years. It was the grace and mercy of Christ and the nudging (sometimes a shove) of the Holy Spirit that saved me from what could have been. With me, it was the love, respect, and known protection of my father, both earthly and Heavenly) that kept me listening. I now long to be different in a ‘different’ kind of way; one that leads by fellow journeyman to the throne of my Heavenly Father until once again, I can finally be in the presence of both.😘
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