Monday, December 22, 2008

Pajamas and Fleece Lined Slippers

I'm in my flannel pajamas and my fleece lined slippers. If I didn't have to go out today, I think I might stay in them all day! Since it is supposed to rain, maybe even snow, the idea seems even more enticing.

Remember the trend a few years back when kids wore pajama bottoms to school? Lately, I've seen a few women who have decided to hang on to the fad. I've even seen a few who have added their big animal slippers to the mix!

I admit it seems strange to see a woman walk in the store with her pajamas and slippers on. In fact, my first reaction has been, "Good grief, is the woman sleep walking? Surely she wouldn't be out shopping in her pajamas and slippers!"

Who made it improper to go out in pajamas and slippers? Are they not decent? They sometimes cover more than what the clothing industry considers proper to wear for a shopping trip!

We have been TOLD what is proper to wear in different settings. If someone steps outside that box, they are labeled weird. We have gone along with the premise and we dress accordingly.

Can you see how people are influenced to think and act a certain way because they have been told that is the proper way to think and act? None of us would consider ourselves brainwashed because we go along with the guidelines we have been given for dress. But, have we been?

What a society says and does shapes its people. You don't wear pajamas to the grocery store because you have been "shaped" to not do it.

What about people today, especially our children and college students? They are being "shaped" by the society they live in. They are daily being fed a meal of tolerance for everything and anything. They are being fed the lie that Christianity is no longer sustainable or acceptable in a pluralistic society. They are force fed the lie that the Bible is an ancient book, no longer relevant in this enlightened age.

What has been our reaction? We rant and rave against such a society. But, has that society determined our thinking as well (think wearing pajamas to shop)?

What should be our proper reaction to the society in which we live? We should try and change it! But, the way we should change it is not by ranting and raving against it. We should change it by changing the people in it. We do that by lovingly sharing our faith with them. Concentrate on the REAL way our society will be changed, that is, changed lives controlled by God.

So, be the loving ambassador of God to a society that so needs to see us believers as kind, loving people, not judgemental, vindictive, mean spirited persons. Don't forget. We were once one of them. The difference is we now know Jesus.

Let's change society! Who knows, if we do, we may even be able to wear our pajamas to the market and not feel ridiculous!

Trying not to be influenced by society but trying to influence it in the right way, Gloria

No comments: