I had a same age, family acquaintance when I was growing up who always wore her worn out jeans and T-shirts. Her closet was stuffed full with clothes and in complete disarray. It turns out the clothes weren’t to her liking. While in her slovenly attire, this teenager would talk about all the dreams she had of her future wardrobe. She would tip her chin and lift her head, attempting to depict the manner in which she would carry herself while so stylishly dressed.
To her credit, she was also full of plans for how she would arrange and keep that wardrobe. But from the looks of things, the management would have to begin with an unpracticed hand.
Shortly after she was married, I visited her in her house… what a mess. We were in her kitchen that was piled high with dirty dishes. Many of the belongings I recognized as new gifts that she had requested for her bridal shower. The rather large kitchen table was pushed to the wall and laundry was piled three feet high. She excused it, noting that she was so busy she just didn’t have time to fold or put it away. This left me to realize that even with the choicest of objects, she was content to wish for better, without doing anything with what she had.
Thirty years later, I saw her again. We didn’t speak directly about clothes or possessions, but we spoke enough that I know she has never realized her dream wardrobe. The clothes she wore were a covering for the person who dreamed of a wardrobe, but didn’t want to accept and care for the wardrobe she had. How she carried herself and what she spoke about emphasized the outlook and habits of the slovenly dressed, ungrateful teenager. We can pity her.
You don’t have to have your “dream” wardrobe to wear your clothes with style and grace. You don’t need to have fine laundry to make sure that it is clean, folded or hung and kept presentable for your convenience. You don’t have to have your dream closet in order to keep it orderly.
Sometimes you may find that your circumstances are less than your ideal. But in expressing gratefulness, cleanliness and orderliness in managing what you have, you can change your attitude and behavior. And when that happens, pieces of your “dream” are more likely to be recognized and celebrated when they come into your life…fitting right in, quite stylishly.
You don’t have to have your “dream” wardrobe to wear your clothes with style and grace.
