So Friday night I went to a break out session at our women’s event at church.  The name of the session was How to Refresh your Wardrobe.  I thought, if there is anything about me that is easy to refresh these days, it’s my clothes!

If you haven’t noticed lately, the new fashion in tops are the flowy piko tops.  I love them!  If you know me, you know how much I love them because I think I own one in every color.  Throw that belt OUT the window ladies and put on the stretchy pants!  But there comes a time when you feel like you are tired long necklaces, ballet slippers, black pants, and a different scarf to work every day. Oh wait, I just told what I wear to work every day, but with a vest here and there.

I left the session with a few ideas…throw a cardigan over this, a crochet vest over that, sure you can wear white skinny jeans, buy a tank top and put a piko over it.  My mind began to spin and Saturday shopping was on my list of things to do for the weekend.  It was the sidewalk sale in Collierville, after all.

I’ve been quite the Instagram shopper the last couple of months and found great looks and buys.  Some boutiques can be pricey, but they also have the ability to control their prices.  I have a pair of palazzo pants that I was determined to use my new savvy ideas to match for Spring.  Out the door I headed with my pants shoved in my purse, shopping for Spring…in the snow.

One thing that my sweet mother passed to my two sisters and me is the ability to gain wait and keep it as our very own.  Grief has not helped the situation.  But the Winter style sure helped hide that problem.  As I walked into the store, the Spring style does NOT emulate the Winter style.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I need something that is coral to match my pants.  I see you have pikos. Can we find one that will match my pants?”

The young (emphasis on young) lady replied, “Oh I’m sure we have something.”

As I browsed the store, she brought me a cream top with no sleeves and a bow at the back of the neck.

“You can just put a cami under this and it will match perfect!”

I smiled and replied, “Oh, that’s so cute, but I try not to go sleeveless and show my arms…at work.”  All the while I’m thinking, does she know how tight the piko sleeves are on these fat arms anyway?

A few minutes later, “Here is a blue and white striped shirt.”

I looked at it for a minute and thought it might work, but it also might look like I got dressed in the dark because my pants have a pattern.  Or if people REALLY didn’t know me, they would think I had been drinking.

The last suggestion was a dress extender that’s a cami to go under a piko.  I guess just forgetting the pants. Now that would be a sight!

I finally said, “Honey, I’m almost 50 years old and I just can’t pull off most of this stuff.”

I did leave with ANOTHER piko and a vest.  All the way to my car I was thinking, “What am I doing! Another piko!”  Was I just impatient and wanted something to go with the pants or do I really love these tops? I think impatience won.

What I came to realize over the weekend is that I am who I am.  Yes, I can lose some weight.  A lot of weight.  But because the style is camisoles and skinny pants, that doesn’t mean I need to be the next Walmart “what not to wear” ad, if you know what I mean.  There are so many things that have changed about wardrobe do’s and don’t’s.  You can wear suede in summer and white after Labor Day.  Well, that’s not what my momma taught me.

So, who do you listen to?  Well, I was brought back to God’s word.  ^“Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.” 1 Timothy 2:9-10  I think we can braid our hair, etc. but what made me think is my dress making a claim to godliness? I immediately thought of 1 Cor. 10:31 “Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do ALL for the glory of God.”  I think that includes the way we dress.  I don’t think I have to look like I have on a potato sack, and I’m going to work on that part, but I don’t need to wear skinny jeans and not cover up what God gave me either.  (The thought of putting on skinny jeans makes me nauseated anyway.  Don’t you want to eat?)

As women (and sometime I know fathers do also), we tend to harp on the young girls who dress inappropriately with short shorts, tank tops with bras showing, but the acceptance is becoming more and more for the older generation.  We must remember to be an example to the younger generation and model what is appropriate.  I’m thankful for Alisha Reed at Central who is modeling to her children what is acceptable and not acceptable.  She refreshed me Friday night with her suggestions on how to spruce up my wardrobe with a Godly heart.

“You are together beautiful my love, there is no flaw in you.” Song of Solomon 4:7  Claiming it. Memorizing it. Answered prayer.

I’m okay just as I am. And the next time you see me, I might have on a piko (like right now).  ;o)