bikinis, me and Jesus

It all started--at least for Lily--about two weeks ago at Target.  We were in the women’s swimsuit section, and I was looking for a one-piece with the girls in the cart, thinking they were paying no attention.

“Oooooo-la-la!” ("Fancy Nancy" series, anyone?) Lily said, gripping a tiny, adorable, bright orange bikini top.  “This is BEAUTIFUL.  Mom!  Get this one!”

Not really paying attention, I kept browsing.  “Uh, that’s nice, sweetie, but no.  That’s not for me.”

As I continued to look for something with full coverage that was not, well…hideous, she continued. 

“Whaddabout this one?  SO CUTE!  Look, it’s got sparklies!”  she raved, going from one triangle to another.  Finally, I stopped.

“Hey Lil?  Mommy’s looking for a big suit, like these, not a little one, like those.  Wanna help me look at these?”

But she would not be dissuaded. 

“MOM!  Those aren’t CUTE like these.  (truedat)   Please, Mom, why don’t you get one of these?”

There were lots of other women around, shopping swimsuits, too, and frankly, I just wasn’t at all prepared to HAVE the “modesty talk” with Lily.  She is FOUR!  What was I going to say?  I'd never thought through how to talk to a four-year old about this.

Sending up one of my frequent, “HELP!” prayers, I took a deep breath and said as quietly as I could, “Hey Lily?  You know what?  My body isn’t FOR me.  The Bible tells us that our bodies are NOT our own, and that the Holy Spirit LIVES INSIDE of us!  Isn’t that exciting?  And because my body is actually GOD’s, and He lives IN me, I want to treat my body like it’s really special.”

Lily was listening SO intently.  “And THAT means I want to keep it covered up, and show people what’s INSIDE my body—Jesus—and not what’s OUTSIDE of my body.  You know?”

She kept thinking and thinking, quietly sitting in the cart in the way every mother both loves and dreads.  She’s my disciple…and yet, has her own brain.  Form-able.  But Individual. 

While she thought, I dove back into the florals, my mind whirling.  Was that right?  Did I say what I should have said?  Did I handle that right?

“But MOM!” Lily interrupted my thoughts.  “Look at all those girls.  THEY’re all wearing those cute suits!”

Following her finger, I realized that posted all around the walls above the swimsuits were huge images of deliriously happy, bone-y, beautiful women in teeny-tiny vibrant bikinis.

Sigh.  Another conversation I wasn’t ready to have yet, the “Not everyone knows and loves Jesus” talk.

“Baby?  Some people don’t know that they belong to God.  And some people don’t WANT to belong to God.  And some people DO, but choose to live for themselves.  But we know we are His, and I believe God wants us to dress in a different way than those girls, than most people.  God lives IN us, so we want to make Him happy.  Uh….you know?”

Thinking, thinking.

“OK, Mom, I see.” she said thoughtfully, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  Oh man.  My girls are growing up.  I know we’ll have the talk again.

Finally giving up my search altogether, overdramatically thinking that I will just NEVER swim this summer (forgot my suit in Haiti!), we headed for the groceries when a woman a bit older than me reached out and touched my arm.

“THAT was the best reason I have EVER heard,” she said, totally catching me off guard.  I hadn’t realized anyone else was listening.  “Thank you,” she said sincerely as we headed off, me half-smiling and booking it out of there self-consciously.

But since, I’ve been thinking more and more about this issue.  

First, because I want to be ready when it comes up again.  And it will, because Lily’s section is 85% bikinis, too.  Second, because I want to really KNOW and BELIEVE what I believe. Third, because anyone who has eyes sees that this is a MAJOR issue in America AND in the church today, and finally, because I’ve read several articles on “modesty” recently, GOOD ones, and seen them downright ROASTED as being sexist, close-minded, degrading and ridiculous.

This sounds a bit vain, but the more I think and pray about it, the more I think what I shared with Lily is IT.  It’s not about “two inches below the knee.”  Not about being a good Christian.  Not about bikini or tankini or swim dress.  Not even about (primarily) others, their thoughts, what our dress does for or against them, etc.

Just like pretty much EVERYTHING else in life, this issue is about ME and JESUS.

Boiled down, at our source, this is what I see on it…

Matt 5:14—You are the Light of the World.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they will see you, and glorify your Father.

My role:     A Light
                The transparent vessel through which “the world” sees “the Father”

1 Cor. 3:16—Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

My role:       God’s temple

1 Cor. 6:15—Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have from God?  Do you not know that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.

My role:       God’s temple

                  Live like I am NOT mine

                  Live like I am costly

                  Glorify God in my body

This has got NOTHING to do with being a man or a woman.

Nor does it have anything to do with being alive in America in 2013.  You think God cares that it’s hard to find cute modest swimsuits/ dresses/ shorts at Target?

The seemingly harsh and but reality-beautiful truth, after much thought and prayer, reading and Bible-searching is, I think, just what my first thought was to Lily. 

I am not for me.  I am not mine.  I’m His, and the light through which the world is supposed to give my Father glory.

That, friends, is HUGE. 

What that looks like at the check-out, Sunday morning, Saturday night, is between the Lord’s heart and ours. 

But I’m betting if we think about how we dress (or how we pretty much anything) through the lens of just 1 Cor. 12-20, we’ll be changing it up, adding a layer, or throwing it out.

We’ve got a LOT to give this world, in and because of and through Him and Him alone.  It’s a radiant and serious and intense and precious and Holy calling, to be God’s temple.

Let’s dress like it.  For His glory.