Have you ever tried to slither into a pair of jeans? Wrestling with getting a metal zipper to close at my mid-line, while down on the floor, is how I used up about fifteen minutes of my day this morning. Make that twenty-five when all was said and done. Somehow I managed to button the button closure at the top of the zipper. That resulted in an unbecoming protrusion out the opening between the top button and the bottom of the zipper. Getting the zipper to zip up was another story. I’d have to either pull out a tunic top from my closet or wear a long coat to hide my belly. With Indian summer upon us in the Northeast, donning a tunic or long coat wasn’t an option.
Perhaps more creativity is my ticket. So, once again I knelt down and splayed myself face up on the floor. After first wiggling this way and that way, I began lifting my buttocks up and down and then from side to side and then I began flinging my legs straight up in the air. Surely my acrobatic antics would help stretch my NYDJ (Not Your Daughter’s Jeans).
What does this have to do with speaking up for yourself? Let me put it this way.
I don’t know about you but my natural reaction to the challenge of zipping a zipper on a pair of jeans after wearing cropped pants, various styles of shorts, and skirts all summer is one of self-sabotage. Good gracious, I’m so fat; I need to exercise more; why did I have those cookies yesterday or that bowl of ice cream last night; Look at this muffin top; I’m such a sloth, and so on.
But, there is another way. In God’s eyes we are fearfully and wonderfully made and therefore made perfect in Him. It’s good to access our lifestyle and decide if we need to make changes to improve our health. But, if we don’t allow God’s hand in our lives and accept ourselves as His beloved child, the light we reflect, along with our voice, will be dim. You may not set out to make an impact, but people do pay attention and they watch to see if you are who you say you are. Whether we are a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mother, a cousin, a wife, a step-sibling or step-mother, we have an opportunity to brighten another’s day. If we are picking ourselves apart, we lose our influence.
It turns out that laughter was my ticket to getting my zipper zipped. While lying there in the middle of my floor struggling to get that zipper up, my only view was the stark white ceiling. There I was sprawled out like a limp lobster with my tentacles flailing in the attempt to stretch my NYDJ. I wanted every bit of my money’s worth of that 4% spandex I’d read on the label. As I lie there gazing at the ceiling, the absurdity of it all struck me as hilarious and the next thing I knew…I had the giggles. I started laughing unashamedly at my predicament. After the work-out of my abdominal muscles and my non-eloquent cackling subsided, I was breathless. Nevertheless, I tried one last time to pull my zipper up. To my astonishment, success!
I will be doing some accessing of my lifestyle so that the next time I try slipping into my NYDJ, I won’t have to roll around the floor again. In the meantime, I know I can walk out my front door today and speak up with full confidence that, in my weakness, I am made strong! That in God’s eye’s I am acceptable and beautiful just as I am. And, you are too!
