(17) The Dress In The Wardrobe
There is a dress in my wardrobe that I bought many years ago. An outfit I have never had the chance to wear. It’s not an everyday dress. So I have to wait for the right occasion to arrive. The only problem is that when the occasion comes, I can’t fit into it. Or I manage to lose couple of pounds and can finally get into it, only to realise there is no occasion to wear it.
Now I am not a hoarder by nature. If I can’t use something, I get rid of it. But this is one dress I will not give away. Not that I have hopes of wearing it in this lifetime. But I keep it, every time I clean out my cupboard, to remind me of a lesson I learned the hard way. To listen to my husband when he gives me advice. And it’s not a lesson easily learned.
You see, I purchased this dress despite the disapproval of my husband. He told me that it simply wasn’t something I needed to get. But I liked the colour, the texture, the way it looked on the model, and the way I imagined it would look on me. And so I went ahead and ordered it. Well, it sits in my cupboard as a very good reminder. At least now every time I decide to buy an outfit, I always check with my husband. If he disapproves, it gets removed from my cart.
Over the years I have realised that this man of mine will not ask me to do something that is detrimental to me. He has my best interest in mind. This is one of the reasons I always check with him if the outfit I have on is appropriate before we go somewhere. There are times he will ask me to change my attire right before we leave for church or elsewhere. Do you know the dilemma that this puts me in? With barely few minutes to spare, I have to figure out what I need to wear while I stand in silent meditation in front of the wardrobe. You would think that it would be so much easier to lay out the clothes the previous night and get his approval. But what feels good on a Saturday night simply doesn’t fit my mood on a Sunday morning.
However, I would rather listen to my husband in this matter than march to the tune of the drummer in my head. You see, it just gives me added confidence if he approves of what I am wearing. Then it really doesn’t matter to me what others think or say of my style. His opinion of me is what I value more than what the rest of the world has to say.
But that doesn’t mean I always apply this lesson elsewhere. As much as I like to take his opinion on everything (whether it be an outfit, linen and things, kids wear, kitchenware, you name it), the problem lies in whether I pay heed to what he says or not. It would save me a lot of trouble if I would just listen to him in the first place. But there is a delay in the relay. It takes me about a fortnight or so to realise what a goose I have been. And I can just about hear my husband tell me sagely in my mother tongue “Wise sayings of the elders are like gooseberries. Tart at first, sweet in the end.” Oh well, there have been many occasions where I have had to eat humble pie. And they all tasted like gooseberries.
Is it for any simple reason the Psalmist tells us to wait on the Lord? It is so much better for us to pay heed to the Lord’s ways than ours because He knows what is best for us. Because His ways and His plans for our lives are so much higher than ours. And as we wait on Him, He will reveal His plans for us and lead us step by step.
There is no better confidence and peace than knowing we are walking in obedience to Him, in His ways, waiting on Him for His time. He will bring to pass all things, according to His will, in the fullness of His time. May we then earnestly wait on our Lord Jesus.
And I have had to learn that Jesus is concerned, not just over my prayer life, but over what I used to call my secular life too. It is I who designated my life into different compartments. My Lord doesn’t see my life in sections. He doesn’t differentiate but sees it all as one. And He is Lord over it all.
So then may I not only keep Him first in my life, but as the centre of my life. Because it is from Him, through Him, and back to Him that I am sustained. Apart from Him, I am nothing at all. So may we not lean on our own understanding, but acknowledge Him in ALL our ways. He will surely direct our steps.
“The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.”
(Psalms 37:23)
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:9)
~Gia
August 30, 2018
