Clothed
I recently bought an adult coloring book (emphasis on ‘adult’). I’d been hearing how relaxing coloring is and how many adults had turned to it to relieve stress and remain calm. I’ve came across a handful of coloring pages in many magazines but have always refuted the thought of picking up some color pencils and following suit. My argument: “I’m not a kid, and I’m not stressed.”
This was until I came across ‘The Word in Color’ at CUM Books. I made sure no one was looking as I lifted up the really beautiful coloring book and read its back. “The Word in Color is a coloring book for adults filled with uplifting Scripture verses for creative relaxation and blissful reflection on the Word. Take a break from the everyday hustle amd bustle and find encouragement and peace of mind in The Word in Color.”
Reading this, I knew this was for me. Not only did I love the creative way it offered to meditate on God’s Word but it would also help me deal with my anxieties (and boy are they many).
I’ve been enjoying going through pages, selecting which I’d color (mostly going for the ones requiring the least work *hides*), grabbing my wax crayons (no they are not the preschool type, these ones look real adulty) and getting lost in God’s great proclamations.
Being an avid Bible reader, I’m familiar with all these verses, they are a selection of the most popular verses anyway. But I’m amazed how the more I dwell on these phrases and paragraphs I’m so familiar with, I learn things I’d never learnt before.
Over the past decade or so, many Christian women have been fascinated with Proverbs 31, it features on so many Instagram bios. So when I was busy coloring a page on Proverbs 31:25, I didn’t put much thought to it until I thought long on the word “clothed”. I thought of it in two ways. In the sense of Genesis 3:21 where there is a clothing because of a nakedness and in the sense of Colossians 3 which speaks of a taking off of the old self with its practices (verse 9) and a putting on of, or clothing with, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verse 12). So if one is clothed, it means one was once naked, and if one is clothed, it means they have taken off something else first.
I’ve always been bothered by the fact that the Noble woman of Proverbs 31 is portrayed to not have had any problems, she’s perfect, everything is in order and she does everything without fault, because I couldn’t relate with that. But reading this verse, I saw for the very first time that this woman was no different from me. For her to have been clothed with strength, she had to have been naked, she had to have been broken and weak. For her to be have been clothed with dignity, she had to have taken off all things that made her unworthy of honour or respect. Her being clothed speaks of her decision to forsake her very self and follow God, it speaks of her yielding her all to God, and in the process, exchanging her weakness for His strength, her anxiety for His peace, her mourning for His joy and her pain for His comfort.
This made me think of Isaiah 61:3 “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil off gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…”
God wants so much to clothe us with His virtues but at times we are too busy taking pride in our filthy old rags or hiding in shame in our nakedness. No matter how it played out, God never leaves one in nakedness when one comes to Him (read Ezekial 16), He never leaves them in despair. He clothes them, exchanges His garmentd for their rags to such an effect that they are unrecognizable, that their past and their present cannot be reconciled.
This was until I came across ‘The Word in Color’ at CUM Books. I made sure no one was looking as I lifted up the really beautiful coloring book and read its back. “The Word in Color is a coloring book for adults filled with uplifting Scripture verses for creative relaxation and blissful reflection on the Word. Take a break from the everyday hustle amd bustle and find encouragement and peace of mind in The Word in Color.”
Reading this, I knew this was for me. Not only did I love the creative way it offered to meditate on God’s Word but it would also help me deal with my anxieties (and boy are they many).
I’ve been enjoying going through pages, selecting which I’d color (mostly going for the ones requiring the least work *hides*), grabbing my wax crayons (no they are not the preschool type, these ones look real adulty) and getting lost in God’s great proclamations.
Being an avid Bible reader, I’m familiar with all these verses, they are a selection of the most popular verses anyway. But I’m amazed how the more I dwell on these phrases and paragraphs I’m so familiar with, I learn things I’d never learnt before.
Over the past decade or so, many Christian women have been fascinated with Proverbs 31, it features on so many Instagram bios. So when I was busy coloring a page on Proverbs 31:25, I didn’t put much thought to it until I thought long on the word “clothed”. I thought of it in two ways. In the sense of Genesis 3:21 where there is a clothing because of a nakedness and in the sense of Colossians 3 which speaks of a taking off of the old self with its practices (verse 9) and a putting on of, or clothing with, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verse 12). So if one is clothed, it means one was once naked, and if one is clothed, it means they have taken off something else first.
I’ve always been bothered by the fact that the Noble woman of Proverbs 31 is portrayed to not have had any problems, she’s perfect, everything is in order and she does everything without fault, because I couldn’t relate with that. But reading this verse, I saw for the very first time that this woman was no different from me. For her to have been clothed with strength, she had to have been naked, she had to have been broken and weak. For her to be have been clothed with dignity, she had to have taken off all things that made her unworthy of honour or respect. Her being clothed speaks of her decision to forsake her very self and follow God, it speaks of her yielding her all to God, and in the process, exchanging her weakness for His strength, her anxiety for His peace, her mourning for His joy and her pain for His comfort.
This made me think of Isaiah 61:3 “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil off gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…”
God wants so much to clothe us with His virtues but at times we are too busy taking pride in our filthy old rags or hiding in shame in our nakedness. No matter how it played out, God never leaves one in nakedness when one comes to Him (read Ezekial 16), He never leaves them in despair. He clothes them, exchanges His garmentd for their rags to such an effect that they are unrecognizable, that their past and their present cannot be reconciled.
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment