I love dressing up!

The little lady no1. is much like her Mummy. She loves dressing up!  We have a box full of dressing up clothes and I'm always eager to add to the selection which currently includes, among others, a doctor's scrubs, a ladybird dress and a ballerina's tutu. I would love to find a pirate and perhaps a cowboy outfit but I'll have to wait until the next Kwon sale!

I love dressing up so much I basically took a degree in it. Although I only did few productions getting decked out as a different person, to live a different life was always thrilling.  That moment before I would step on the stage knowing my lines off by heart, muttering my lines under my breath, waiting for other characters to respond, feeling the eye of the audience upon me still remains one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. 

As the little lady no1. was dressed up as a half witch, half ballerina, half doctor today...too many halves mmm...it got me thinking about how, as a Christian, I am called to a life of dressing up. Go with me.

I get to traipse around my house, Tesco, Wollaton Park, the library et al dressed to the nines in "garments of salvation...robes of righteousness" Isaiah 61:10. 

But the problem is I often feel like a total fraud.  I feel like a character playing the part of the good christian, I know my lines and am careful to get it right under the eye of my friends, family and church -my audience.

Elyse Fitzpatrick in Comforts from the Cross writes:

Jesus has taken on the responsibility to dress you beautifully...it's his delight to dress you in garments that befit your calling as the bride of the Lord of lords. When he looks at you he smiles with deep affection and contentment. He has cleansed you completely so that you are radiant, without any stain or shadow of guilt or impurity.  We're not playing dressing up.  This is who we really are.

I forget that I AM the good christian! Not because I am but because Jesus was for me. I am 100% certified righteous because I believe the good news that Jesus lived, died and rose again.  I'm not playing the part. This is who I really am. Thank you Jesus for smiling at me.

I hope to teach both my ladies the joys that come with dressing up, be it on stage or when getting ready to go to a party.  But I want them above all to know the solid joy that comes when we unashamedly dress up as who we really are in Christ not frauds but beloved brides who are totally: cleansed, sanctified, loved before the dawn of time, friends of God, redeemed.