Pretty Dresses........

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4




I like nice things. I love jewellery, clothes, bags, shoes…..and so the list continues. I not only like these things for myself, I also like them for my 3 daughters. Creating materialistic monsters springs to mind! But in my mind, if they always look good this reflects nicely on me!

In fact, after recently buying the older two a new dress each (which I of course justified them needing in a thousand different ways), I thought I’d best do a stocktake of their cupboard. I started counting dresses and was surprised (read horrified) when I reached 80 very quickly. I immediately started to panic that maybe in our relocation to Melbourne 2 years ago we’d inadvertently left 16 more daughters behind! But no, these are the dresses that I apparently need to clothe three little people. I should also point out that figure does not include skirts or the other dresses currently in storage until the warmer weather arrives.

This started me thinking about clothes and how important they are in shaping the kind of people we want the world to see. I am certain that I am not the only one who sees someone wearing a certain outfit and jumps to a conclusion of what ‘type’ of person they are. For example: trackies, mochies and a Ford or Holden jacket to your knees just screams “I live in Glenorchy and hang out in the Bus mall when I’m not shoplifting at Northgate.” Now, I know this is a HUGE generalization. They don’t ALL live in Glenorchy, but you get my drift. We have all been known to judge people on the clothes they wear and fit them into a preconceived stereotype that is probably vastly inaccurate.

One of mine & Paul’s favourite pastimes is people watching at the shops. There you will see the biggest fashion faux pas’ and it always gives us a bit of a giggle. Don’t judge us – I know you’ve done it too! There’s just something about a fashion train wreck chugging past that gives me great pleasure. But why? Surely an outfit shouldn’t define who we are as people? And yet so often it does. It speaks volumes of how much we earn, where we live, if we’re clean, how we’ve been raised, whether we have taste……. and the list goes on.

Counting 80 dresses in my girls’ wardrobe gave me a reality check. I am in danger of overlooking true beauty in this world because I am too concerned with the way it’s presented and a bigger danger of raising the girls to believe that you have to look and dress a certain way to fit in.

I want them to live by 1 Peter 3:3-4 and value theirs and everyone else’s inner beauty, for that is the beauty that matters most…………..