And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. [Colossians 3: 14 (MSG)]
In spite of the Netflix show’s title, orange will never be the new black, at least not when it comes to women’s dresses. The iconic “little black dress” was first introduced by designer Coco Chanel back in the 1920s and this piece of clothing has been a woman’s wardrobe staple ever since. Depending on the fashion accessories worn with it, the LBD can be appropriate for just about any occasion. For most women, it’s our basic all-purpose garment. Of course, at my age, my LBD gets more wear with a jacket at funerals than with pearls at a cocktail party. While my husband doesn’t have a little black dress in his closet, he also has a basic all-purpose garment: brown khakis and a light blue button-down shirt that can be dressed up with a navy blazer and tie.
While I consider my little black dress to be a wardrobe necessity (and actually have more than one), the Apostle Paul tells us there is another, far more essential, all-purpose garment we need in our lives—love. The image of slipping into a suit of love every morning appeals to me. How nice to know that a suit of love will always fit, never make me look fat, and match every accessory in my closet! It will never shrink, stretch or fray and doesn’t even need ironing! When I’m clothed in love, I’ll never be over or under-dressed and I’ll always be in style.
Today, as we look through our closets and dresser drawers, let’s be sure to reach for love before putting on anything else. While we’re at it, how about adding the accessories of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? After doing that, we’ll be dressed in an ensemble finer than any we’d ever see featured in Vogue or GQ.
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. [Colossians 3:12 (MSG)]
As I picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the water, I thought of Loren Eiseley’s essay about saving starfish and making a difference in people’s lives, one life at a time. Remembering Eiseley’s essay got me thinking about an announcement made last week at Bible study. While a local family was driving home from church last Easter, a driver sped through a red light, t-boned their car, and changed their lives forever. Their two small children were seriously injured and one, a three-year old girl, was airlifted to another town. On life support for about a month, her injuries left her a quadriplegic. Now four, this sweet little girl has more surgeries and months (if not years), of medical, physical and occupational therapies ahead of her. Meanwhile, her family struggles with mounting medical expenses. Although the family does not attend our church, their need came to the attention of our pastor. Being restricted to a wheelchair has kept this little girl and her family from their favorite Florida activity—going to the beach. Since the wheels of a normal wheelchair would sink in the sand, family beach time has been just a memory until now. Yesterday, along with a sizeable check to help with their expenses, our church presented them with a sturdy all-terrain beach wheelchair. This vehicle enables her not just to go to the beach but also to go into the ocean and play in the water once again.
With their huge medical bills and needs, the $2,200 spent on a wheelchair may seem a little frivolous—but not to a four-year-old girl who had given up all hope of ever going to the beach or feeling the waves again! There are some people who will analyze how many mission trips, meals, blankets, immunizations, medicines, bricks, or Bibles could have been purchased with that same amount of money. They may disagree with how the church spent our tithes and offerings. Without a doubt, there is a tremendous need in our world for just the bare necessities of clean water, food, shelter, and health care. Sometimes, however, a need is right in front of us—a need to make life a little easier for a neighbor, a need to bring some joy back to a family or to put a smile back on a child’s face. Sometimes what seems extravagant to someone is a necessity to another—a great wig or a day at the spa for a woman with breast cancer, a davit that allows a paraplegic man to get into his boat again, skiing on a sit-ski for a wounded warrior who’s lost his legs, a week of summer camp for a teen with diabetes, a weekend at Disney for a child with leukemia, a trip to the Super Bowl for a boy with cystic fibrosis, or even a teddy bear for a tot recovering from heart surgery.
Devotions of the Heart 