Playing Dress Up

Monday morning after we waved goodbye to our weekend guests, the girls and I settled in for some morning chores, a little school and just general fun. (we did not observe MLK day last week so we could have a fun day this week)

Not long after I sent the girls upstairs to gather laundry, I heard giggles, squeals and then one of them said..."Let's put them on!". They came to the top of the stairs each wearing a jacket and carrying the rest of Fran's hanging clothes.

I grabbed my phone took a picture sent it to Fran asking if she forgot anything. :) Then grabbed my camera to take a 'real' picture. It was just too fun not to.



While Chloe has grown out of the playing dress up stage, Emma is STILL there. (This is the child that becomes Panty Girl when she thinks we need a laugh.) It was funny to watch them oh so carefully take Mrs. Fran's jackets off and hang them up.

While the girls were strutting their stuff in these very fine jackets...my mind got to thinking about how cute they looked. You can see the jackets are LONG, but the arms are what were so funny to me. The sleeves hung down around their little knees. They didn't fit...no way...as much as my girls pretended that they did...Mrs. Fran's jackets were not made for them.

Later in the afternoon I was preparing my notes to lead Bible study on Tuesday evening. (Sidenote: my ministry team Freedom's Call is doing a Bible study geared toward artists...they asked me to lead this one.) This was the first week and the chapter title was "How to keep your passion alive."

Deep in that first chapter the author talks about our Christian life being an adventure, a one of a kind God planned adventure. Our ministry team has a specific adventure that God has planned just for us. YOU have a specific God planned adventure! However, sometimes we are so captivated by someone else's adventure that we miss our own. You know what I mean?

We look at someone else and think I want to do THAT. Why can't I do that? I'm just as talented, just as capable...I could probably do a better job.... Are you still with me? Maybe it's just me that does that!

My point is this. Just like Chloe and Emma put on Mrs. Fran's jackets, and pretended to be her, those jackets did not fit. They would not have been able to wear them for very long without getting frustrated. The sleeves would have been in everything, they would have tripped because those jackets hung down around their little feet. It would have been a big ole mess and I would have had two VERY miserable little girls on my hands.

Same thing in life. When we try to force ourselves into a ministry, or position that God has not planned for us, it isn't going to work. It won't fit. We are going to be miserable.

God has quite an adventure planned for you. It's tailored to fit YOU and only you. If you are too busy trying to make it look like another person's ministry, then what God desires to do through you will not be done, and an important part of the body of Christ will be missing.

So today, can I challenge you to put on the jacket God designed for you to wear? Just try it and see what happens.