It’s Fall. What Will Our Children Wear?
When a change of season came when our children were young, I remember how I dreaded getting out the next season’s clothes and putting away the clothes from the previous season. When I think of refugee mothers with nothing to keep their babies warm—and even the stories I hear from people who have worked in the local public schools, I am ashamed that I had so many clothes for our children that I thought it was a burden. Now that those days are past, I’d love to be in the middle of those chores again, touching the little sweaters and overalls and dresses, folding them, putting them on the little hangers.
How about these exotic children’s clothes for summer and winter?
A Summer Girl by Helen Hyde, 1905
Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Gift of Hyde Gillette in memory of
Mabel Hyde Gillette and Edwin Fraser Gillette.
Baby in Fur-Trimmed Coat, 1850s
Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro.
In a recent Bible class, we studied about the armor of God, as described in Ephesians. The study made me think about what our children (and we) need to put on. Ephesians 6:10-11 tells us to be strong in the Lord and to:
- Put on the full armor of God so we are able to stand firm against the devil’s schemes.
- Gird our loins with truth
- Put on the breastplate of righteousness
- Put on the preparation that comes with the gospel of peace
And we are to take up:
- The shield of faith
- The helmet of salvation, and
- The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
I found other teachings about what our children (and we) should also put on.
The night is almost gone, and the day is near.
Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness
and put on the armor of light.
Let us behave properly as in the day,
not in carousing and drunkenness,
not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality,
not in strife and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh
in regard to its lusts.
Romans 13:12-14
So, as those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,
whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Beyond all these things put on love,
which is the perfect bond of unity.
Colossians 3:12-14
And these “clothes” are not only for the times when one season changes to another. These are for eternity.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:53