It’s always funny to look at pictures of myself from a few years back and compare them to now. A lot has changed. One thing that has really changed is the way I dress. I’m shocked to see what I actually wore in public and considered “nice” clothing at one point.It’s not that my clothes were indecent, but they were much more sporty and plain than the lovely, feminine clothing I strive to wear now. Not that there’s anything wrong with wearing sporty clothing, but I had a completely different mindset about clothes then as compared to now.
For one, I didn’t think much about my clothes. As long as they were modest and comfortable and reasonably stylish, they were great. I didn’t like dressing up. There are several instances I can think of where Mom had a hard time getting me to wear a dress or skirt. I thought you should only wear dresses and skirts on Sunday morning for church. I mean, they’re impractical, uncomfortable, and too girlish, right? And if I wear a skirt people might think I’m a silly, primping girl who only cares about her clothes and how she looks, and that’s not true! I will hike in the pasture, climb trees, roll in mud, or do anything that I have to do to prove to others that I am not a weak, foolish girl! If I had to wear a skirt, then I was going to be on the defensive, and prove through my actions that I am a rough and tumble kind of girl.
I didn’t feel this way all the time, but unfortunately the attitude was far too pervasive than it should have been. Then, when I was about twelve, God began to show me some things about my feministic attitude. He gave me a vision for strong, pure, beautiful, ladylike womanhood; womanhood in which my femininity didn’t have to be apologized for, womanhood in which I didn’t have to prove that I was just as good as a man. I found that I could have something better than second-rate manhood, I could have first-rate womanhood. With my change of heart came a change of attitude. Slowly, what I wore began to change as well. I remember the way I felt the first couple of times I wore a skirt around the house. (Remember, skirts were never to be worn for everyday use!) Even though my mom almost always wore very feminine clothing at home, I was still rather uncomfortable. What was everyone thinking? What if I was being legalistic? I soon got over the initial strangeness of wearing skirts at home. It was actually kind of fun. After all, it’s much easier to pretend to be a pioneer woman while wearing a long, full skirt rather than Capri pants.
Over the years, I have begun to concentrate more and more on making my clothes definitively feminine. Why is this so important to me? Because in our culture of gender neutrality, it’s time for someone to stand up and speak the truth about Godly womanhood. Women and men are different, very different. God made it that way. When people look at me I want them to see someone who has found the true essence of femininity. Not just someone who doesn’t look like a man, but someone who is proactively striving to be a Godly woman; a woman with a meek and quiet spirit, a woman who understands the principles of authority, a woman who is strong enough to withstand feministic ideology, and strong enough to cleave to the truth of God.
