August 12, 2019
We just got back from year 6 of going to Atlanta to buy for Charley’s and it never ceases to amaze T and I the fashion and glam that struts through the buildings. We work nearly 15 hours a day all week, weaving through crowds and up and down floors and racks. What would be smart, practical-
Would be to do it in tennis shoes and workout clothes and yet, every year- T and I spend time on the phone mulling over what to wear. I mean if you own a boutique- shouldn’t you look the part? As we both gulped down Tylenol in our heels on hour 8, day 3- I couldn’t help but wonder why we get so caught up in how we are perceived by others. Why we give so much credit to the passerby or the random girl in the bathroom? Why does someone else’s perception of me effect my own reality? I thought this morning about my good friend, Mary. She always seems to be the complete opposite of me and I want to be just like her. You see Mary loved Jesus beyond measure so when the time for him to be crucified was near, Mary took what would have been her life savings in expensive perfume and poured over her soon to be Saviors feet. Then in an even more daring act- she took down her hair (something only done in private) and wiped her hair at his feet. Not only was this act utterly worshipful, but it was done without care or concern for her reputation, her morality or her modesty. To worship Jesus, she literally laid it down at His feet. Mary gave no thought to what this act would mean for her- she cared only of giving it all to God. It’s so beautiful in its simplicity and so powerful in its message. When our greatest fear is letting down our hair; perhaps our biggest sin is keeping it up. I am not called to perfection or accomplishment. I am called to surrender and grace. I am not called to live up to the opinions of others. I am called to live under the will of God. There is so much freedom in that- so much beauty in letting go of that need to be everything in the eyes of someone else- when we are already everything to the God who died to be near us. So today, I choose flats and the message of Mary and the belief that laying it down for Him is so much better than keeping it up for anyone else. 🙏
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