It’s amazing the clothes that we accumulate on the journey of life.
How we get to the finish line of a year, look down at what we are wearing, and realize, how desperately we need an outfit change to see in the new year.
In this journey of life, we accumulate clothes. Some good, some bad, some just plain worn and tattered.
Sometimes, we are just too busy to look in the mirror and see what needs to be changed. Sometimes we are too tired to change. Sometimes, we are not aware of the new clothes available for us to put on.
We put on clothes to keep warm when we are in the winter season, and sometimes forget to strip them off in the summer.
Others throw clothes on us when we are too busy to notice. Sometimes it is a cloak of rejection, or a garment of shame.
Sometimes we pull on disappointment when prayers aren’t answered in the way we expect, or as quickly as we imagined. Sometimes the length of the journey causes us to slip on weariness. Other times it is anger that has become an easy fit.
Many of us devote significant headspace to our physical clothing for NYE.
NYE is an opportunity. An opportunity to put off and put on. An invitation to strip off the old and put on the new.
I hear the invitation and I begin my wardrobe change.
The first garment I will be slipping off is weariness & disappointment. I am exchanging it for hope, expectation and appointment to the year ahead.
The 2nd garment I will be stripping off is fear. This garment is popular. We think it is going to protect us, keep us safe. But this garment is deceptive. It is a bad fit for humanity. It hides us, suffocates us and cuts off the breath of life. I am casting off the garment of fear this NYE. Tonight I will be wearing courage, boldness and faith.
Love is my final garment change. And it is not an easy one. To let go of the hurts, to let go of resentment, anger, bitterness, and to remember that garment that fits me perfect is the garment of love. I need to step into a supernatural change room for this one. I do it as I write, I ask the Lord to help me cast off these old and ugly clothes and remind me of the beauty of the garment of love. He sowed it together on the cross and handed it to all who would receive it. I can see mine. It is custom fitted, it is costly, it has royalty and humility sown through the fabric. It has healing, beauty and redemption in its stitches, and I know I would be crazy not to wear it.
So there it is. My outfit for tonight. The strong, fear defeating garment of faith, the stunning, head lifting helmet of hope and the beautiful, royal and costly garment of love.
I may even wear them to bed and wake up in them tomorrow.
With love for a brave, beautiful and wonderful new year.
Kirrily xx