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BEAUTY TIP #26 – Fickle Fads

Posted: October 23, 2010

I was in Paris three years ago when I saw my first pair of skinny jeans. I stopped, blinked twice and thought, “Whoa…how did you squeeze into those?” Of course most Parisian people don’t have an ounce of fat on them, and I must say they looked pretty good. Europe is usually about three years ahead of Canada in fashions but hang on; the skinny jeans have arrived to your home town.  The crunch and squeeze is on. The scales are out morning and evening and there’s a lot of squeezing and comparing going on.

I had an opportunity to sit in the shopping mall a few days ago while I was waiting for my husband to come out of Chapters. I keenly surveyed the fashion kingdom and let me say up front, some of us should NOT be wearing skinny jeans. Just because it’s the latest and greatest style doesn’t mean it is for everyone. Hollywood, TV, magazines and the skinny sixteen year old do not determine how you and I are going to dress each morning. Sure I love to look great, and I enjoy the creativity of dressing each morning, but if it doesn’t look good, I need to forget about it.

 Skinny jeans are only a fad and will be in and out before you know it. It hasn’t been too long since I threw out the big, wide bell bottom pants. They were the coolest, the greatest and when I wore them I fit in and belonged. When I compared myself against the younger Fashionistas; I made the grade. I appeared young, cool and it looked like I knew what I was doing.

I am old enough to say, “Fads are fickle; they come and go and leave a mess of unworn clothes in our basements.” Before we know it we’re going to be hunting for the bell bottom pants with the two foot hems. So why not get back into those comfy, stretchy pants and pursue something more powerful and lasting like FINDING FREEDOM.

Freedom to be yourself! How do we do this paradigm shift?  This may take the rest of our lives but it is a journey of discovery that not only helps us find freedom, but it ends up in unimaginable JOY. While we are trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans two sizes too small for us, sometimes we forget that Jesus died to save us from trying to be something we’re not. Jesus died to give us freedom. What does some of that look like? Here’s what I see:

1. Freedom from shame. When I know my sins are forgiven, and all my ugly mistakes have been forgotten, I can walk with my head held high and I am not cowering in shame.
2. Freedom from condemnation. This goes hand in hand with #1. When we are free from shame we no longer have to condemn ourselves when we mess up, feel stupid or feel like we have no worth.
3. Freedom from comparison. When I believe the fact that I am unique…a “masterpiece” that God created for this time and place of all eternity; I don’t have to waste energy and pain in comparing myself to others and squeezing into something that may not be right for me.
4. Freedom from trying to be perfect. I love it that I don’t have to be perfect; I just have to be me. I am “made perfect through Christ” which an ongoing process of appropriating the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life. This is not something where I have to work harder to be better; I need to give the Holy Spirit more access to every area of my life.
5. Freedom from “people-pleasing.” Sometimes I wonder why we spend so much time trying to please people, when we realize this is simply another fickle slippery road that has no end. Why not put my energy into obeying and pleasing my Creator God, with whom I will spend all eternity with.

 Also, please don’t forget that there are marketing people sitting around in rooms with M.R.I. machines testing our brains to see which marketing tips will make us run out and buy the latest jeans. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be manipulated like that.

 I’m not saying that Jesus died so that I won’t feel bad about not wearing able to wear skinny jeans. I am saying Jesus died to set me free from all the hooks, demands and fickle fads that come and go and have no lasting value.

I want to invest my time and energy into things that bring me lasting joy and above all… fabulous freedom.

 

 

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