Dressed by Daddy

I have a problem. I apparently only have enough fashion creativity for one person (some would say I don’t even have that much). I realized yesterday, that I seemingly have the capability to come up with just one outfit for any given morning. Why is this a problem? Because I often dress my son and myself.

Yesterday, I had awoken to a crying 15-month old and put his clothes on for the day: blue jeans and a gray t-shirt. Then I showered and dressed. As I was pulling on my own gray t-shirt over jeans, it hit me that I had dressed myself and my son exactly the same. What’s more is that I thought back over the past month and realized countless times I’d done the same.

I don’t wake up each morning and make a conscious decision to dress my son and myself exactly alike. In fact, I often roll my eyes when JJ and I end up dressing in a similar or matching manner by coincidence. Instead, I have a simple thought of what to wear, and those clothes get stuck in my mind, then are materialized in everyone I dress for the day!

Today I’m sitting here wearing khakis and a brown shirt. Sawyer is on the floor playing, and he’s wearing khakis and a brown shirt. And this is after I made the realization yesterday and decided to stop doing it! What’s even more sad/astonishing is that we’re both wearing gray socks. I have a problem.

I’m thankful that God is much more creative than I. Look around you and see that we are all so individually different. I love it! One of my favorite things about traveling to the various parts of the world we get to is to see cultural differences in lifestyle, dress, physical realities, music, and much more. It’s a beautiful world, and God made us every one different. However, I am eternally grateful that like me and my son, he chooses to clothe his children in the VERY SAME righteousness as himself and his son Jesus. Isaiah pointed out that in and of ourselves, “all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (64:6). But we don’t have to remain in filthy, disgusting, rags of human righteousness clothing. Simply put, “righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:22-24). Paul told the Corinthians that God condemned his perfect Son into sin so that we could be justified as “the righteousness of God” (2 cor 5:21). My son ends up dressed like me a lot, but if I let God the Father have my life, He will dress me in the VERY SAME righteousness as himself. That’s a pretty good deal. Like Job desired, “I put on righteousness as my clothing” (Job 29:14a). And in my case, it’s my heavenly father who’s dressing me.