Peggy Boldizsar Nunley

This week we had Spring Picture Day at my kids elementary school. On Monday, the kids and I talked and I said I would pick them up a new outfit to wear for ‘Spring Pictures’. I enjoy shopping, so this was a treat for me as much as it was for them.

As I talked with them, each one had a special idea of what they would like to wear. I have my ‘TRENDY’ kid, who only loves what is “IN”.  My ‘FASHION” girls who are obsessed with ‘JOJO’ as well as anything with BIG bows, looks super cute and raves of bright colors.

Then……..I have that ‘ONE KID….’

My youngest son said it best, “Mom, you need to know – JJ is that, ‘ONE KID’.”  I said, “What do you mean, Ben?”  Ben rolling his eyes replied, “You know mom, that ‘ONE KID’ in the whole school, who, on picture day doesn’t dress like everyone else, but ALWAYS wears a SUIT!” “Mom, WHY does he do that?!”  “Why can’t he just, LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!?”  “Who wears a ‘SUIT’ on picture day?!”

Well, that ‘ONE KID’ is MY KID!

I love JJ and his unique look on life. He is brilliantly smart and has always been independent  and unconcerned with the thoughts of others. In fact, he is an incredible questioner and challenger of ideas and the status quo. He is always looking at the ‘BIGGER’ picture and has placed his dreams higher than I could have ever imagined at his age. I love this about him. 

So, being the good mom I am  — I sought to help him out a little on his ‘FASHION’ choices. I bought him a cute sports jacket with a tie and nice dress shirt. I thought this would be ‘TRENDY and CUTE’ with a pair of jeans.   A suit, but not a suit!  Perfect!  So I thought!!!

When he got home from school I showed him the new threads I picked up and proceeded to show him how he could wear it with a pair of cool looking jeans.

Well, JJ would not have it!! He instantly told me “NO”!! He said, “Mom, I want to look professional!”  “I want to dress like a business man.”  I said, “JJ, That’s great, but your not a business man yet, don’t you want to look ‘TRENDY’?” 

JJ confidently replied, “No, Mom!” “Aren’t you the one who taught me to ‘dress like who I want to be’ in the future?” “Dress for success, Mom!”  “One day I’m gonna be a Brain Surgeon and Business man, I want to dress now like who I want to be when I grow up!” 

BAM!!!!  It hit me in the gut! Mom FAIL to the MAX!!!  All of a sudden I realized, I was trying to make my son ‘fit in’ and not ‘stand out’ in the “UNIQUENESS” that God created him to be!  He has big dreams and I was trying ‘in the name of fashion’ to diminish his vision to fit into how the world around him looks!!

Have you ever done that? —Compared  yourself to the world around you instead of stepping into the “UNIQUENESS”  of who God has called you to be? –OR found yourself  conforming to an image that was ‘ACCEPTABLE’ or even considered ‘TRENDY’ to the people around you?

Here I was, a mom, teaching my kid, on one side, to dream big and step into all of who God has put in his heart to be, and, on the other side, trying to get him not to look like that ‘ONE KID!’

JJ taught me a ‘BIG’ lesson this week. We are to dress for our calling. Maybe his idea was a suit. But spiritually speaking he reminded me that preparation for the call of God on our lives looks different for each of us.

How I dress and prepare myself spiritually will separate me. I will look different than my peers. How God ‘SUITS’ my life may require a different standard of living, acting, sacrifice,  and  obedience, than those around me. If I settle for the status quo or what is popular, I will never get there!!  It’s a mindset that I must walk in daily.  I must make choices in everyday settings that will prepare me to get  to where God is calling me.

How about you? How are you ‘SPIRITUALLY’ dressing yourself today for the future portrait of God’s call on your life? Are you compromising it to ‘FIT IN’ or are you stepping into ‘YOUR UNIQUENESS?’

I pray you have the ‘COURAGE and BOLDNESS’ to step into the readiness that God is asking of you today, to be ‘ALL’ of whom He is calling you to be.

Let’s hold this scripture close to our heart today….

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.”-Romans 12:2