LOVE LOOKS LIKE A DRESS

I encountered a few women in the fitting rooms this afternoon helping their friend find a mother of the groom dress; I chuckled to myself because that was my errand as I entered the department store. They were laughing and joking, "No, not that one, it's too sheer; oh, that one is perfect- so flattering!" I could hear their running commentary as I tried on dress after dress for our son's wedding. Funny. We clothe ourselves in certain ways because we love those we are celebrating with.  As I kept shedding garments and trying on new ones, I realized the connection to our emotional and spiritual life. How I live and act, you could say "dress," in the world is a reflection of the "running commentary" in my mind and heart.

Here's some interesting fodder for that commentary of mind and heart:

"I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God.

 For He has clothed me with garments of salvation

 and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, 

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest 

and as a bride adorns herself with jewels," 

Isaiah 61:10

How I see how God sees me helps me get dressed in the morning and gives me the grace to take on the challenge of dressing and acting as God asks:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, 

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

 Bear with one another and forgive one another whatever grievances you may have 

against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 

And over all these virtues put on love, 

which binds them all together in perfect unity," 

Colossians 3:12-14

That, my friends, is quite a wardrobe! 

Will we let the Lord who loves us inform what we wear in the world? He loves us with an everlasting love and wants us to dress as if we are loved, so we can love.

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

                                 "He that is beloved walks with great unrestraint 
                                         within the heart of Him who loves him." 

                                St John Chrysostom Homily XIII on 2 Corinthians