Naked Zeal

Trying on clothes is something I literally hate doing. I won’t remove my shoes all day just because I like being ready at all times. This is part of my completeness that is tied directly to my peace of mind… and yes, I know that is not normal. So, let it go…

When I find a brand, style, and size of clothing, I like to buy multiples. I buy double shoes (BOGO) of the same make, color, and model. I don’t like figuring out what fits. While I love fashion and looking nice, if I have to try on new outfits, I’m just not going to change my style. As a kid, there were several times my mom would send me to the dressing room with four pairs of pants and two shirts. She learned quickly to make me exit and display the fit because I would try on one, then say the rest fit. Yes, I have lied to my mother about trying on clothes.

Now some folks love to try on things. They absolutely love it! Good for them.

My son shares my passion for unique fashion and has always had a great amount of excitement when he received clothes as a kid. When receiving gifts, most kids tolerate the clothing while anticipating the gadgets, toys, and cash. Not Jacob. He loved clothes more than anything.

One Christmas season we were opening presents. That year we had several feet of snow on the ground and we got all the kids some thick socks, slippers, and a thick robe. Jacob, opening these gifts began to roll with excitement. Opening the socks, the robe, the slippers, then a pair of pajamas, he not only unwrapped them but tore into the packaging and removed the clothing. He could not wait to put these new items on!

One has never seen a three-year-old come out of footed pajamas as fast as he did. As he peeled the layers off, the began to put on new layers, smiling and grinning as he tried on each article to complete his ensemble. New pajamas, new socks, the robe, the slippers, they all found a place around his tiny form. But he had more packages. What would he do when he found more clothes?

A few items in Jacob opened a multi-pack of underwear. Most likely either dinosaurs or robots. Either way, these too had to be tried on~ so off came the current ensemble, down to the birthday suit, and boom! New undies in place! We had such a laugh and Jacob had a wonderfully joyful time putting all his new clothes on that morning. He had such zeal for the idea of new clothes that he was glad to get naked in the process.

Where in our lives as adults do we carry such passion? So much zeal for something that we would be so carefree as to become undignified in order to wrap ourselves with new outfits, new ideas, new relationships? This isn’t a call to do crazy things or to be uncivilized, but it’s a reminder that children often teach us hard truths about ourselves. There was nothing out of place for my son at three to strip and redress in a new outfit. The context and the occasion worked.

He could not have enjoyed the new clothes by putting them over the old ones. Without shedding what he had, he would just have to wish and dream about what it would be like to feel, see, and enjoy the new garb! What a mission! What are we wearing to such comfort that we are unwilling to shed in order to have something new, something better, something more? Don’t read into my thoughts and words, just think for a minute. Couldn’t we learn a lesson? Couldn’t we, as responsible people take a minute to inventory our passions and dreams and see what we are leaving behind in the name of “comfortable?”

Often times, if we were honest, we are really acting in the first place, doing and being what the culture around us imposes, being driven by a set of religious ideologies, politics, or external influences that are not even good for us or the world around us. What could you be doing in life ten months from now? What investments in the people around you could blossom if you just make a few changes?

Take note. Take time. Think and be patient. Learn to discover and listen. Things don’t have to stay the way they are, you can find your zeal without getting naked.