| February 7, 2015 |
Clothing |
|
In several weeks you will have the opportunity to help others by donating good used clothing, asking your neighbors to do the same, and helping to sort and put on hangers; then greet folks, (some who are homeless), at our community shop while they shop at no change and have lunch.
You know, clothes are a funny thing in todays world. We really don't see a whole lot of folks naked (except I guess in films); but it seems hard today to easily fulfill the old biblical commandment to "clothe the naked. From time to time we see pictures or commercials of tattered and tom clothing of hungry dirty faced children. But by the same token you can go to Gap and spend $200 dollars easy on some new jeans that are so tom and ragged, I guess they make you look good. Some of us spend all day and a lot of our money trying to dress for success or to attract the right people. Some of us, according to my wife at least, should pay a little more attention to how we look and not hold onto ragged 25 year old shirts just because they feel comfortable. It seems it is pretty important to us today to wear someone else's famous name prominently on our clothes; although, I can remember well when my name was written in with magic marker on all my labels to be sure I didn't loose or get mine mixed up with other kids.
Maybe like a lot of things in life we tend to forget how lucky we really are not to have to worry about having clothes - if they are clean - where we will keep them - the ability to buy new ones if we really need or want to - to have the right ones to keep us warm or cooler. When, for a whole host of terrible reasons, we lose the common place right and ability to feel clean, safe and warm; to get something new and special once in a while; give our children something nice to wear and even special so they will simply feel good like most other kids on the block. Taking life in general and people in particular for granted is never a good thing. Maybe a clothing drive is nothing special - lots of organizations do it.
And maybe being poor isn't exactly how being poor used to be. But maybe on the other hand, life is still very difficult for many of our neighbors. And little things still mean a lot. And we can learn a lot about the real needs of others and even ourselves by lending a helping hand when asked. And who knows, we may even learn a little Bible along the way.
|
