Jackets, Jeans, Jumpers, and Jammies
In my freshman home economics class, we girls — no boy would have dared take home ec in my school back then — had to make a jumper from the same pattern. As I recall, we even had to use the same kind of fabric, just in different colors. I remember going to one of Ashland City’s two department stores and buying a sort of gray-green brushed denim. Talk about ugly! Whew! You can imagine how we felt about wearing our almost-matching jumpers to school.
I grew up thinking about clothes even more than the average girl, since Mother was one of the best seamstresses in town. I like to say that when I was growing up, there was always some woman in a slip in my living room! I admit that “always” is an exaggeration, but “often” is quite true.
We had a fascinating study about clothes in a recent women’s Bible class. With what we talked about that day as my jumping off point, let’s think about a few of the many things the Bible says about clothes.
The first tailor was Adam and the first seamstress was Eve. They sewed fig leaves together after they realized they were naked.
The next tailor was God Himself, who made garments of skin for Adam and Eve, and then clothed them.
An early Christian seamstress was Dorcas, who served others by sewing for them.
Jesus taught His disciples not to worry about what they would wear because the One who clothed the grass of the field would also clothe them.
One day a woman got so close to Jesus that she touched the fringe of His cloak. Her faith that He could heal her was so strong that she told herself that if she only touched His garment, she would be healed. Even in the jostling crowd, Jesus knew she had touched Him and told her that her faith had made her well.
When Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah on the mountain, his clothes became as white as light, whiter than any launderer on earth could whiten them.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a crowd spread their coats on the road and shouted:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!”
Matthew 21:9
Things changed drastically for Jesus less than a week later. Jesus was arrested; and between the time of the arrest and His crucifixion, soldiers mocked Jesus by dressing Him up in a purple robe and putting a crown of thorns on His head. At the Cross, they divided His garments among themselves and cast lots to see who would get what.
Joseph of Arimathea, a secret and fearful disciple of Jesus, took Jesus’ body and bound it in spices and linen wrappings. On Sunday morning, our risen Savior left those linen wrappings in an empty tomb.
Our resurrected Lord Jesus offers to clothe us with Himself.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 3:27
Clothing our children is one of the many ways that we show them our love. Whether shopping online or at retail stores or at consignment sales, going through bags of hand-me-downs, changing out clothes with the seasons, or washing and drying and folding, clothing our families takes precious time. It requires decisions. It takes patience. Thank you for serving your families in that way.
As mothers we have the opportunity not only to clothe their bodies, but to bring them to the Savior who has the perfect clothes for our children to wear forever.
He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments;
and I will not erase his name from the book of life,
and I will confess his name before My Father
and before His angels.
Revelation 3:5
And I bet every mother made their daughters wear those jumpers too! “You’re not going to waste good material!”, is something my Mom would have said.
🙂