what do you clothe yourself with?

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

CLOTHE yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on LOVE,

which binds them together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12-14

Ok... so the idea behind this entry isn't mine. Its built off of the thoughts of the pastor who married my friends this past weekend.

So what is pretty much the first thing that you do in the morning? You get dressed, right? And for most of us... we have a choice about what we wear. Yes... I have a specific shirt that I have to wear when I go to work and I have to wear black pants... blah blah blah... but other than that... my closet if filled with clothes of my choice. Most of them I like. I have my favorites.... and there are also some that I don't actually like so much, but for some reason I still hang on to them.

When I get dressed in the morning I choose what I want to wear. And in the same way... I need to choose what my character for the day will be. I am not always a pleasant person to be around in the morning. Like this morning... I was cranky and... well, not very nice at all (I was wearing those clothes that I have... but don't like!). I didn't wake up this morning and choose to put on kindness or patience. I woke up and left the house 'without anything on'. Uh oh! thats not a good idea!

Every morning I need to get up... and before I do anything... I need to get dressed.... with the things that will successfully take me through the day. Compassion, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, kindness, humility, patience, a forgiving heart... these are the things that are going to make a difference in my day. And over ALL of these things.... put on love. Love, love is the zippers, buttons and stitching that holds our clothes together. Without love... everything falls apart and nothing makes any sense at all.

So take some time tomorrow morning to choose who you are going to be. Do you want to run around all day naked and exposed... an open target for the enemy to come and make a mess of your life? OR... are you going to choose to put on clothing worthy of the prince/princess that you are as a child of the Eternal God? Clothes that last. Clothes that are beautiful. Clothes that hold truth, promise and a future!

Ask yourself.... what am I clothed with today?