Modest Monday

As a Christian, women bloggers it seems we all have to address the "all skirts-all the time," "sometimes skirts," or "all pants-all the time" topic. Today I will address this topic in my life. My beliefs do not make me right and you wrong or both of us right and everyone else wrong. This is just meant to address how I dress, why, and how we choose to dress our daughter.

We choose to dress modestly because...

"Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works." 
1 Peter 2:9-10

I wear both skirts and pants in my daily life. In the summer I do occasionally wear shorts if they are knee length or longer, just like the length of my skirts.

For a period, after Mark and I were married, I felt convicted to wear skirts all the time - except for when I was at work in the jail as I received unwelcome attention when I wore them. I wore skirts almost exclusively for nearly 2 years outside of work.

Then, I realized that modesty was not about me wearing, or not wearing, a skirt. Modesty was in my demeanor, my attitude. I could be the most modestly dressed woman but if my heart was in the wrong place or if I was boastful about the way that I was dressing - I was missing the point.

Now, I wear both pants and skirts on a daily basis. The exception being that I always wear a skirt or dress to church services, funerals, and church events. I feel that is how I should be dressed when I enter the Lord's formal house.

Annabeth wears skirts and dresses 95% of the time. Because so many baby and children's pants seem to be very fitted we feel that putting a skirt or dress over them makes them much less revealing and much more modest.

Even more importantly than what's on the bottom, we are very careful with what we wear on our tops. For shirts, I start with one hand at my neck and the top of the shirt must meet the bottom of my hand. This means I have only a bit of my chest exposed when wearing shirts. I also be sure to bend over in the dressing room to ensure that the shirt does not gap and allow people a view down it when I bend down. I try to wear shirts that are not terribly fitted as my body, and its exact shape, is not meant to be shared with anyone but my husband. The same rules apply to Annabeth even though she is only 2. Her body belongs to her, the Lord, and eventually her husband - it is not meant to be shared with the world even though she is "just a baby."

I have found that if I have to wonder if something is okay or not - that usually means that it is too tight/short/or revealing. I often consult Mark and have him help me make the decision. While I want to honor God in how I dress, I also want to respect Mark's opinion and preferences.

We also wear mostly hand-me-downs or second hand clothing (with the exception of undergarments and swimwear) because we feel that the Lord does not wish us to spend large sums of money on keeping up with current fashions or certain labels.

This is how we dress. We dress this was because we believe that the Lord wishes us, all of us women AND men, to be clothed modesty. We pray that we are pleasing to our Lord.

Us girls - before church on 01.26.14

Linked Up To: Teach Me Tuesdays at Growing Home