I asked my boys to go get dressed for their dentist appointments. “Put on something that doesn’t look like you’ve been sleeping in it all week!” I shouted from the living room.
One of my twins returned quickly and stated confidently, “I’m ready to go, Mom!”
I looked up from my phone to observe his choice of outfits and broke into a large grin. “Oh, honey, that shirt does not fit you anymore,” I said as I checked out the visible inch of skin between the bottom of his shirt and his athletic shorts.
His face fell. “But Mom,” he said, “you made this shirt for me just last year for my Valentine’s Day party. I love this shirt. It’s both soft and comfortable. Do I have to let it go?”
My boys are growing lightning-fast these days, and it is easy to tell when they have outgrown an item of clothing. In fact, it is probably time to do a thorough clean-out of their closets to make room for some new things. New things can be exciting! Still, I recognize it will not be easy for them to let go of some items, especially when they feel so comfortably a part of who they are.
“Yes,” I told my son. “I’m afraid so. You are growing! It’s time to let go of what no longer fits to make room for something new that might fit you better!”
Sighing, he turned to go change his shirt while grumbling under his breath, “I wonder if adults still grow out of things.”
I know I could easily locate a few items of clothing in my closet that no longer fit as they should. I think we all could. However, my son’s off-handed remark had me contemplating instead some non-material things in my “interior closet” that no longer fit me as they once did.
Each year as I get to know myself and others better through prayer, contemplation, and encounter, I am finding more and more attitudes, postures, and ways of proceeding that no longer fit the person I am becoming. There have been people in my life that have pointed out the visible gap between these old ways of proceeding and the Gretchen they now know me to be. Still, like my sons, I tend to hold on a little too long to a few ill-fitting things. As much as I don’t want my sons walking into a new year with a closet full of outgrown clothes, I don’t want to enter into a new year shoving myself once again into attitudes, postures, and ways of thinking that no longer fit me.
How is God inviting me to clean out my interior closet?
So as another school year begins, I am asking myself, How is God inviting me to clean out my interior closet to make room for those things that better fit who I am becoming? What graces do I need from God to let go of the old?
What have you outgrown? Will you take some time with me to clean out your interior closet and make room for something new?
Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash.
