The Long and the Short of It

When it’s June and I’m out walking in the muggy Florida twilight in my hot black yoga pants, I wish I could wear shorts. 

But I can't. My sister won’t let me.

If it sounds as if she has some sort of power over me or way too much control {especially for a sister who is younger than I am}, you should know that she is the boss of me.

She tells me what to do with my hair. She tells me to wear lighter lipstick. She tells me my sunglasses are too small. She tells me to wear higher heels. 

And she’s almost always right. 

So I don't mind abiding by her rules since she just wants me to be the best possible version of myself.

But when she saw me out walking one night she said, “You know, those shorts aren’t a good look for you.” 

I wasn’t exactly sure if it was just the particular pair I was wearing that she didn’t like or all shorts in general, so I bought other styles of shorts. 

Longer ones that went to my knees. Flared ones. Straight ones. 

But she didn’t like any of those either and finally said, “Everyone in the neighborhood knows you are my sister so when you’re out walking, I don't think you should wear shorts at all.”

Got it.

I make sure my neighborhood walking wear is long yoga pants, no matter the weather.

{Just so you know, I am not in this photo.}

But I did buy what I thought were some trendy shirts to go with my yoga pants and debuted one of them on my evening walk when I spotted my brother-in-law talking at the curb to two men. 

I had just finished what I refer to as a jog-trot {not exactly running}, with a clip in my hair and I was especially sweaty and disheveled. 

I tried to give him the eyeball-stare-signal that it was perfectly fine if he pretended not to know me. 

I breezed by him as he stared at me puzzled and hailed me with a hearty greeting. 

{I guess that mental telepathy thing only works with my sister.}

He introduced me and I chatted for a few minutes and was on my way. 

I sent a text to my sister that I met my brother-in-law’s friends and she wrote back, “OhMyGoodness, were you wearing shorts?”

I told her of course not, but I was wearing my new shirt with the word Wanderlust emblazoned across the front that I’d found in the junior section. 

{And I’d already decided not to wear it again, since it really was intended for juniors.} 

But I wouldn’t dare break the rule about shorts.

I’m actually a rule follower by nature so it doesn’t bother me to add another one to my list, but I think there are some rules that I’ve long believed to be hard and fast, that might be worth breaking. 

{Maybe you’ve believed them too?}

Waiting is just wasted time. 

Vulnerability shows weakness. 

Surrendering is giving up. 

Nothing ever turns out as you hope, so why hope?

What’s over is dead and can't be brought back to life.

But when I bend these rules and see how far they stretch, they start to look golden.

My perspective on waiting has been transformed. In the past, I haven't waited well. I've acted as if it were an inconvenience, an unwanted interruption, impeding my progress to wherever I was headed. 

This offering of our desires in surrender to God is not abandoning but offering. It’s not giving ourselves up, but giving ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, not our stubborn wishes. And although it might look as if it's the end of ourselves -- our dreams, desires and wants -- these endings are just the entryway to begin again. 

It's God, not us, who can make all things new and bring what’s dead to life again.

Long story short, when these rules of mine are broken, my life looks different. And what I see changes too.

My sister told me my brother-in-law's friends that I met that night in the neighborhood are former NFL players. 

This stopped me short with a new idea for my neighborhood walking wardrobe.

I wonder if my sister would approve of me wearing my Pittsburgh Steelers shirt when I'm out and about in the neighborhood? 

I think I'll ask her about my sparkly bedazzled gold Steeler cap too. She might like it better than my hair clip.


I'm having coffee with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart. Join me there to read more posts from my blogger friends!