My Corner Online

 

Oh, the excuses! Giving myself an attitude check!

 

*First written & posted 1/19/10, but I still do this with my clothes every January & February!

Do you ever find yourself being a kind of person you don't like to be? As I continue through this series (I've written about The Great Cyclical Clothing Event twice before), I am beginning to see a pattern with my behavior towards those clothes in the back of my closet.

I think I need to give myself an attitude check!

Each time I bring out a shirt I haven't worn in a year, I analyze why it ended up in the back of the closet.

For instance, this blue striped blouse was in the back of my closet was in the back of my closet because I cannot make myself wear it because the collar refuses to act alike on both sides. I remember trying everything way back when, both trying to get one side to lay down or the other one to stand up. Nothing I did mattered and it was like the blouse had a mind of its own.

It fits well otherwise, but because of this one silly thing, it gets rejected. Oh, I'll keep it, but maybe I need to move it to my weekend repertoire and start actually wearing it!

This blouse is red and gold and a bit fancier (bad iPhone photo of it!). I like it a lot and it fits well, but for some reason, I cannot make myself wear it at any other time than December for the holidays. It doesn't have anything holiday about it other than the red and gold, so why do I have this hang-up? I forgot to wear it this holiday season, so I wore it it yesterday, in January, pushing myself outside of my hang-ups.

I should be more grateful for the things I have. What is wrong with me being so picky? I mean really, aren't there starving children in China? (as the old saying goes which is incorrectly demeaning of the country, but carries good meaning) There's a new saying out there now that goes "Finish your homework, there are people in China starving for your job." In other words, there would be other people out there more than thankful to have this clothing, so why aren't I more thankful? I should wear them more to show God how much I appreciate what he's given me. I'm so bad.

It isn't so much that other people have less than I do that bothers me, but more that I am being wasteful.

I am always hard on myself when I waste anything. For instance, sometimes I waste my time. Sometimes I waste my gas. Sometimes I waste my calories.

As a mom of three Eagle scouts, the scouting program would call this "being conservation minded." Taking care of the things we have is conserving them. It is not just a green thing about the environment! It is about showing God that I appreciate what He has given me by taking care of those things and utilizing them to their fullest potential.

1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

I often feel like I am bordering on poverty, always struggling to make ends meet, but if I have so many things that I cannot care for them all properly, such as shirts in the back of my closet, am I really that bad off?

Just giving myself an attitude check today.

How about you? Any thoughts?