Day 107: Come as You Are!

June 30, 2020

Have you ever been invited to a party or celebration and you weren’t sure what to wear?  Formal, semi-formal, black tie optional…wait, let me Google that.  Maybe I just don’t get out enough (who does, these days?)  but when I do, I want to look nice, be comfortable and not be over or under dressed.  One of the most uncomfortable experiences I ever had was magnified 100-fold by the fact that I was “under dressed”.  My junior year in high school, I entered a Lion’s Club “beauty pageant” only because there was a scholarship involved.  This was my first and LAST venture into this type of event.  First, I lacked the confidence, at age 16, to walk and talk in front of a large crowd, because like most 16-year-old girls I thought that everyone else was prettier than me.  The worst moment came when I walked in and realized I was the only one wearing a short dress.  (as in, every other contestant had on a LONG dress)  I wanted to RUN out of there and not look back, I was so embarrassed, but my boyfriend, his family and my family were all out in the audience.  Plus, everyone had already seen me, so running out and crying would just make it worse.  I “powered through” and didn’t trip or fall off my platform shoes.  I spoke around the lump in my throat and mentally promised God if he got me through this, I would never enter another pageant.  That was an easy promise to keep.  The Lion’s Club definitely needed to reword their brochure and since Google wasn’t around, I guess I should have asked other people what they were wearing.  Anyway, that is why I was never crowned Miss America… LOL!  These days are not different than those (good old) days.  People still want to fit in by saying the right thing, wearing the right thing or posting the right picture or comment.  Many times, we “put on a good face” to make people think we have it all together.  But when we talk to God, we do not have to fake it.  He wants us to lay it all out, tell Him how we really feel and ask for help.  He already knows anyway.  The laying it all out is for US to be unburdened.  For God’s “get togethers” it is always “come as you are”.  1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV) says this: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  Luke 12:22-31 (TLB) says: “Then turning to his disciples he said, “Don’t worry about whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. For life consists of far more than food and clothes. Look at the ravens—they don’t plant or harvest or have barns to store away their food, and yet they get along all right—for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! And besides, what’s the use of worrying? What good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life? Of course not! And if worry can’t even do such little things as that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?”  Come as you are!  Smile and be joyful!

The perfect song for today:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2zhf2mqEMI