Seven - Clothes

I've been putting off writing about this because it was a little overwhelming.  For seven days I only wore 7 pieces of clothing.  They were:

green tee
blue tee
2 scarves
2 shoes
jeans
capris
sweater

Other than making sure I did a load of laundry each evening this week was so easy (to be fair I do at least a load everyday anyway).  And for that reason a little disheartening.  What I realized was that I have a lot more clothes than I thought (even though I don't consider myself a 'shopper' or a 'clothes girl').  I also realized that most of what is in my closet is for Sundays or rare occasions.  Most of the time I wear workout clothes or jeans and a tee. 

In reality I only use about 1/10th of my clothes and that doesn't stop me from wanting more, from plotting 'one thing' to 'update' my closet this fall.  *sigh*  And, I thought most of my things were free or second hand... I have a lot more things that I bought new than I thought.

Jen did not go easy on me this week.  She got right to the heart of it.  Why?  Why do I have these clothes?  What am I trying to say with this image?  Oh, ouch.  I wrote down a list of 12 words that I was hoping my clothes would say about me (pretty, happy, fashionable, trendy, but unique, fit, active, good mom, fun, interesting, smart, together).  That's a lot for clothes to say.  And I'm pretty sure it's not what they were saying or making people feel.   

There was also a quote from the book Consumed (I plan to read this ASAP).  Basically, capitalism needs us to spend money whether we need things or not, and the people who do not have any buying power are out of luck.  In short, we buy clothes (insert lots of things) we don't need.

There were a couple of quotes that just stuck right in the heart of my motives and really made me question what I'm trying to accomplish here.

1.  Jesus' kingdom continues in the same manner it was launched; through humility, subversion, love, sacrifice, through calling empty religion to reform and behaving like we believe the meek will indeed inherit the earth. 

2.  We've been invited into a story that begins with humility and ends with glory; never the other way around.

It's hard to hide from that.  Do I just want to 'look cute' or am I trying to elevate myself?  Or is it all the same?  Again, *sigh*.  So heavy.  So much to learn.  Thank God for grace.

On the upside, what I learned from food week is still with me.  We have had leftovers three times as often the last couple of weeks.  Also, my grocery bill has looked a little lighter too.

All is not lost.  Not ever ; )