Madly in Love


The Sunday after Anthony's heart transplant, we were taking our youth group up to visit him at Children's ICU in Dallas,

Because we were going to be leaving straight from church, Engineer and I made the decision to wear travelling clothes to the service.  The decision was not made flippantly.

Let me back up a moment.  Our little family dresses up for church every Sunday - hats, gloves, dresses, ties, jackets, the whole nine yards.

We feel it is important to honor God in the way we dress for church.  
"Sunday best" isn't just a phrase to describe the level of our clothes formality, it's actually what we wear - our best on Sunday; to us, it's a way of honoring God.  We don't judge how others are dressed for church because it doesn't matter, this is what we believe is right for our family.

We feel it is important to differentiate how we dress every day from how we dress on Sunday.
Engineer wears a polo style shirt and jeans to work every day.  Diva wears a school uniform every day.  I wear yoga pants and a t-shirt nearly every day.  Sunday attire is different.  We have friends who wear suits and/or ties to work every day so they choose to dress down for church and I can totally respect that.  We, and they, have chosen to make Sunday different from every other day of the week.

We feel like the effort is important.
If Engineer and I were going to a party or out with friends or on a date, we would make the effort and dress up.  If I am willing to take the time and put the energy into dressing up for people, how can I justify not dressing up for my Savior?  We want to honor Him with our actions, however small they may be.

Besides, we're from the South, and that's how we roll.

With that being said, sometimes it's difficult to instill your child your family's value system, or at least, to explain it where they may understand it.

So back to that Sunday morning that we wore street clothes to church.

We all felt a little weird.
Diva ended up acolyting that morning so instead of getting lost in the congregation, she was front and center in her jeans and sweatshirt.
She was embarrassed saying, "The one Sunday where I wear jeans is the one Sunday no one else could acolyte!"

I felt bad for her but also a little proud that she feels, as we do, that dressing for church is a part of our Sunday worship - that we bring our best to Him.
She wants to bring her best to Him.

1-4-3 DM!

Comments

  1. I love this and I love you wear Sunday clothes for church. I still can't get comfortable with the whole casual attire in church although I know it's a good thing if it gets people in the doors.

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    1. That's right Ms. Talya. If we only owned casual clothing, that would be fine, we would wear the best/cleanest/least wrinkled casual clothing that we had. It's not about wearing fancy clothes, it's about bringing our best to Him.

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  2. I always dressed up for church when I was younger so now I feel strange dressing casually even though so many churches have casual dress now.

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    1. I think as Southerners, Ms. Pristine, we are wired that way. ;)

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  3. I love this! Favorite line: "Besides, we're from the South, and that's how we roll." I was raised to differentiate how I dress on Sunday versus any other day, as well. I tried to wear flip flops to church one time because "all the girls were doing it," and my Granny threatened to leave me at home, so I quickly changed because I didn't want to miss service! It is great that little Miss Diva feels pride in dressing up for the Lord! =)

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    1. Thanks! It truly is a Southern thing and maybe we are old-fashioned, but that's okay too. ;)

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  4. I grew up where you dressed your best to go to church...then, the last few years, after moving across the state, it became more casual. Last Sunday, I began dressing "up" again - it just felt right - like you said, giving the Lord our best.

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  5. As a Catholic, we have a Saturday evening Mass that is much more relaxed than Sunday's. Some folks wear shorts in the summer and I've never been able to get over that, but as a kid I remember there was a person who was denied entry into their church because of their clothing, so I'm happy folks come any way they feel comfortable. Although, I don't think I'll be wearing shorts.

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    1. No ma'am, never would I condone refusal of entry based on the way someone is dressed. Seems counterproductive and counter-intuitive as a Christian. I'm not sure that God cares what we wear to worship; but I'm sure He knows what's in our hearts as we make this small gesture as part of our ritual of worship. :)

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  6. We always dressed up for church too... just seemed like the right thing to do!

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    1. Tradition, certainly, has something to do with it. :)

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  7. I love this. My family also dresses up for church (Husband in suit, the boys in their Sunday best, and I wear nice clothes too). I grew up learning to respect the house of God and that's one way we do it--to wear our best. On the Sundays we teach Sunday School we get to wear jeans/denim skirts and it always feels so funny showing up so casual!

    And so funny about Diva--I would've felt the same way!

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    1. I am on our church's Hospitality Committee and occasionally we have to prepare meals during the service and on those Sundays, I dress down. It does feel weird.

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  8. I love this and can totally relate. Sunday is like fashion sunday clothes but Im a jean wearing kind of gal

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    1. I'm with you. (Pretty much) every day is a yoga pants kinda day except on Sunday mornings where I take more than five minutes getting ready before walking out the door.

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