Over the weekend I went to a thrift store just to see if I could find costumes for the kids. The only thing that I saw was a Hulk mask and the muscular torso that went with it for Jackson. I forgot that there should be matching legs somewhere. After all, the Hulk was Bruce Banner by day and wore street clothes before his muscles shredded his apparel. I was thinking (to myself) that muscles and jeans were the perfect combo. It wasn’t until I got home to show Jackson that I realized what was missing.
He was not only excited to put it on, he was convinced that I bought him a hulk nightgown! (Referring to this purple panel of fabric at the bottom of the muscles.) I am not sure how that fabric converted to a ‘nightgown’ in his mind but he was adamant that he was not wearing pants! The whole way home from hockey practice, he was in the seat in his underwear and …hulk parts.
I’m sure that any of you who have children have similar experiences with the ideas and naked ambitions of children… Parenthood is definitely an adventure.
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On a different note…
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Whether or not it’s Halloween, I love listening to children when they are proud of what they are wearing. Little girls twirl in their dresses and show you all of their accessories. Sometimes thrusting fingers only inches from your eyeball. -The tiaras, the nails, the shoes…. ‘Do you like this?’ ‘Did you see this?’ Little boys exclaim “Watch what I can do!” as they flex their muscles and swing their swords. They crawl and sneak around on the ground showing you all of their smooth moves, now that they are ‘in full character’.
Over and over as I’ve thought about Halloween, it’s been hard to not think of those images and of certain verses that accompany a theme of ‘dressing up’. For example:
Col 3:12 tells us to CLOTHE ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Fruit of the Spirit Gal 5:22)
Rom 13:14 tells us to CLOTHE ourselves in Jesus.
Eph 4:24 and to PUT ON the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness
Eph 6:11 says to put on the armor of Christ.
While I’m sure that there are other verses that could be used here, they remind me that we can choose to be like Christ and to walk with Him. Not only that, scripture, prayer, and even elements of faith can be mighty in the hands of the warriors that use them and know their power.
It’s not necessarily an effort of the things that we do or the way that we use them but instead the essence of His power at work, in us, when we believe.
The good news is that being Christ-like isn’t only for the gifted or ‘special ones’. It’s not something that’s only attainable one day a year (Lam 3:22-23). Corinthians tells us that we change glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18) and that He continues to perfect His work in us (Phil 1:6-7).
Yes, even though becoming mature in our faith is a life-long process, we can be just as enthusiastic about all that we have each day, in Christ. Even, and especially, when we feel that it doesn't all get ‘covered’. HE is more than enough.
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[Photo Disclaimer: The mask was lost before Monday night... So this will have to do...]
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