“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
I’m often my AuDHD daughter’s clothes mentor, but she can be stubborn as a mule when it comes to clothes. Once she dresses for the day—whether it’s shorts in 30 degree weather or a sweater on a hot August day—getting her to change is like trying to bathe a cat. It gets done but not without a lot of protesting and thrashing about. A working solution to this problem is having her lay her clothes out the night before, so I can approve them ahead of time.
Still, she often gets away with her favorite sundress in subzero temperatures 🥶 or fuzzy boots in the middle of summer 🥵.
For the most part, I’ve learned to NOT fight these battles…
As long as she is modest, I generally let her wear whatever she wants. To her, clothes are sensory comfort. She wants to wear her sweaters year round because they are soft and feel good. She does hate to be hot though, and sometimes a battle between soft and overheated commences.
Kayla’s Halloween costumes are often onesies that can duplicate as pajamas. After Halloween, it becomes sleepwear until she grows out of it or wears it out. One night, when the low was 70, she wanted to wear her fluffy fox costume. I let her but warned her she’d be hot.
She disagreed. Then the following series of events happened.
-First, Kayla turned on the ceiling fan.
-Then, when that didn’t quite work, she announced that she would need to sleep above her covers.
-Finally, after we’d kissed her goodnight and turned off the lights, she came out all flustered and said she just couldn’t sleep because she was too hot.
In my mind, the solution was obvious:
I told her to change into different pajamas. She did, but I suspect she was hoping for another answer. One that allowed her to continue wearing the fox costume that was sooo comfortable.
And aren’t we the same? Don’t we look to change the situations around us—the people around us—instead of changing ourselves because we’re too comfortable the way we are?
Weather-appropriate attire can be important, even vital. Too much heat, rain or cold can have devastating consequences on our bodies if we don’t protect them with proper covering. Likewise, how can we be our best selves and protect our souls against hate, meanness and pride without putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience?
It’s time for a wardrobe change. Let’s take off the worn-out habits and put on Christ.
What’s your kid’s favorite outfit? How often do they wear it?
Share:
Follow:
