A Little Change

This past Sunday I made a little change to my look. I got my ears pierced. I had been thinking about it for a little while now, and the opportunity presented itself to go with mom to the mall, so I did it. The majority of my friends and family are open-minded enough to accept such a change in me, or have their ears pierced themselves, but let me tell you, I know plenty of people who would make an issue out of this "little" change.

Honestly, piercing my ears was just never something I wanted to do before now. To be completely honest, there were so many battles to fight over necklaces and other jewelry with certain people in our church growing up, that I never wanted to add that extra element of drama to my life.

I decided to write a post about this for a few reasons.
1) People are going to see my ears sooner or later, so why not blog about it.
2) I want to explain the way I feel about them, and how I've grown as a person.

I have to say that I've grown a lot spiritually in the past year. Growing up in the Bennington church did a number on my opinion of myself, as well as my understanding of God's opinion about me. I used to be that having my own opinions and ideas about religion were unacceptable, because it didn't coincide with tradition. I've now learned to embrace my walk with God, with all of my questionings, lack of understanding, and need for growth. I used to be so concerned with what other people thought about me, that it kept me from being me. I've realized this is unhealthy and not what God wants for me. I also learned that judging others is simply unacceptable, because in so doing I condemn myself. Don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect. I struggle with this daily, but it is something I give to God each day to change in my life.

With these understandings, I finally feel comfortable being me. And let me just say people, I like to wear jewelry. I always have. My great grandmother used to have an old jewelry box for grandkids to play dress up with. I have a lot of fond memories of doing that at her house. From when I was a child, I had my little stash of necklaces, anklets, and rings I'd collected on various vacations and other outings; all cheap and without value to everyone except me. The problem was, I was not allowed to wear them unless we were far away from Bennington. Hypocritical? I think so. I hated it, but I understand the desire to not "make waves," so I complied. As I got older, I wavered back and forth about what that meant in my life, and how I should deal with it. In the past few years, I have become acutely aware of the hypocrisy in my life; being one person in church, and another outside. I just can't stand that anymore. Its not what I want. Its not what God wants. And you want to know something else? God accepts me and loves me for who I am. Jewelry and all.

I love to dress nicely for special occasions, and coordinate my outfits so that they compliment each other. Just ask my family. To me, jewelry is just part of the outfit. It compliments it. I realize that many Adventists don't see jewelry the same way, and thats fine. Just don't tell me how to think. That is none of your business. How anyone feels about dress is between them and God. He is the one we should look to as our model. Not each other.

The reason for this long rendering of sentiments? I want this out there, so people know how I feel. I also want people who have felt condemnation from other Adventists over such issues to embrace freedom before God, as He is our judge, not our fellow neighbor. Let God create you to be the person He made you to be, without the fear of condemnation of others. Besides, if they judge you, they have their own battles with God.