Shredded Threads ©

  Once upon a year, on September 20, it came to pass that I flew (by plane -- my wings still haven't come in) from Dallas to Philadelphia . I had just returned from speaking at a women's advance in South Carolina , and had 40 hours to unpack, wash, iron, clean up the house, run to the dry cleaners, and get on my next flight.   

  On my knees, packing my garment bag, I asked my husband if taking seven suit outfits for thirteen meetings was too much. Deep in my feminine heart I knew it wasn't too much, and to my delight his reply was confirming. He told me to take them all, and that "weather may change, you may get tears or make-up on your sleeve, wake up and decide you don't like one, or you may spill something -- anything can happen." Since I wanted to, he told me to, and back then you didn't pay $50 per piece of luggage, I took them all, leaving only a few coordinating pieces and my purple suit hanging in my closet at home.

  I arrived in Philadelphia on schedule and enjoyed chit-chatting with my friends, as we waited in the baggage claim for my luggage. We hadn't realized that almost everyone had taken their luggage and left until…

  Suddenly, it dawned on us that we were the only ones left standing around the baggage claim. The conveyor belt had stopped and all was silent. We sprang to our feet to see what was the matter -- and what to our wondering eyes did appear, but my single black suitcase -- just half of my gear. (...at the time, there was no humor. Now, several years later, I can laugh).

  So, where, oh where had my garment bag gone? All of my dress clothes had been packed so neatly in that garment bag, and coordinated so carefully with the shoes and jewelry in the single little black suitcase at my feet!

  To make a long account of an extremely long day and a couple of weeks, shorter, my garment bag did show up minutes later -- shredded. It came down the conveyor belt just after the left sleeve of my tan beaded suit.

  I've never seen anything like it and hope I never do again! But my garment bag had taken on the appearance of a piece of American Tourister luggage that the gorilla had tired of playing with, so he tossed it to a pack of angry, hungry dogs, who chewed the shoulders out of two suits and then continued to play tug-of-war with what was left. (Somehow they also managed to singe two suit skirts, and melt them together.) Those working in the baggage claim area assured me that it had never happened before, and quickly provided a cardboard box for me to carry my ‘shreds and threads' across the airport and upstairs to those who would be required to DO SOMETHING!

  Quoting from my friend, my initial, wide-eyed response was: "This does not look good." There is no way, shy of writing a book, to explain the details of the rest of that afternoon and week, with all its' problems, frustrations, laughs and lessons. I am aware that some of you have read of this story in some of my other writings, but this life illustration lives on.

  One of my speaking engagements on that trip was a women's conference in Lancaster , Pennsylvania . The theme was Women of Confidence. Before I had left home, the Lord had given me a picture in my mind of a woman trying to guard the contents of an old wooden wardrobe. In her own strength she struggled to keep the enemy out. The picture changed when she kept her eyes on the Lord. Keeping her confidence in Him -- He took care of it all. I was planning on using that picture as an illustration when I spoke, and from that illustration, I had turned in my title as "Guarded Wardrobes". My theme verse was Rev. 16:15: “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” After leaving the airport late the afternoon of ‘the shredding', sitting in a diner, I remembered my title and laughed. Does God have a sense of humor?!

  This past week, I have found myself in a couple of conversations about the economy, lost jobs, and the struggles of the season we are in. I was reminded of a couple of the lessons I learned from ‘the shredding'.

  Rev. 16:15 was referring to a watchman who had fallen asleep on his watch or was not taking care of his responsibility. The punishment for such an act was that he was stripped of his uniform and sent home in his undergarments. We are instructed to “keep watch”, “stay alert”, or “be on guard” throughout the scriptures, “for your enemy…seeks whom he may devour”. When our Master returns, will He find us awake and watching?   

  I have read that in Old Testament times, the Jewish bride actually only possessed what she wore. Often, her inheritance was sewn into the pleats in her skirt. We have been given many spiritual garments. If we keep them on, the enemy will not be able to shred them. But if we leave them somewhere on the conveyor belt of life, our life will be worse than shredded.

  For instance, we have been given the garment of praise. But we have to put it on. Regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. If we choose to leave it hung in the recesses of our spiritual closet somewhere, enemies like self-pity, grumbling, complaining, and anger will seize the day, and send us spiraling down a path of destruction.

  The Bible also teaches us that we ‘are permitted to dress in fine linen' (signifying holiness). In Revelations 4:18 we are counseled to buy white garments. There are many scriptures that instruct us to put on garments of righteousness or right standing with God. But if we instead, choose to cling to our filth, or to be clothed in unrighteousness, we will have chosen destruction.

  The conveyor belt of life has not stopped. It seems to be moving faster than ever. And for sure, the enemy of our souls is seeking those who are unprotected, living day to day without a thought of the spiritual clothes they should be wearing, or what they've left to get caught in the speeding gears of life.

  On the day of my ‘great shredding', I also was reminded that everything is His! Everything! I had to come to the understanding that those seven suits were not mine, the money they were bought with was not mine, and the jewelry and shoes I had left were not mine. Everything we have is His…to use as He chooses. Even if it is to teach us a life lesson.

  I remember in the weeks following this episode, another lesson my daughter so aptly drilled home while shopping with me: "Mom, you don't have to replace everything that matches what you are accustomed to -- You would tell me to just accept what God has for you now."

  Deep in my heart, I said “Yes, Lord.” And, in spite of the reality of the season in which we all live today, that ‘yes' still resounds today.

Susan Chapman Brown
Arising to Excellence Ministries
Arisingtoexcellence.org
susan@arisingtoexcellence.org