We are born with a gentle spirit, and this gentle spirit was meant to stay with us. The armor of love, compassion, and gentleness are only a few of the beautiful garments we have on when we enter this world, and these garments are tailor-made just for us. For a second, our baby hearts are full of love before knowing what love is. Our temperaments may be shy, calm, bold, and outgoing, ready to attract love, never confrontation.
But because we are born into an imperfect world, over the years, the different garments we possess innately slowly find their way into the thrift stores of life, and some of these naturally born garments, no longer fit the version of us that this world molds us into.
As I got older and as life happened, at one point, I felt as though my soul began to lose substance while my mind began to gain weight. With every traumatic event, my mind started throwing out the old clothing that could no longer fit my malnourished soul.
Without checking to see if my soul would approve, my mind took over my internal closet, trashing the excellent & pure, slowly replacing it with different articles of mistrust, anxiety, fear, or anger. As time evolved, I witnessed my closet changing right before my eyes. While beautiful themes of compassion, gentleness, and love all remained in my closet, I sometimes overlooked them because they barely fit and were not comfortable. I began slowly reaching for my attire of anxiety, low confidence, and stress more often without realizing it. Even though my coat of fear smelled and had stains, it slowly became a source of comfort and protection for me. It became normal for me to wear fear instead of courage.
My mind never asked to have to be the one to clothe me, and I know it could never duplicate the innate outfit that was placed on me by the creator itself. My mind never asked to be a fashionista and has tried its best to keep me clothed for all weathers of life. When I experienced intense shivering from cold challenges, my coat of anxiety was placed over my garment of calmness. The more storms I weathered, the more heavy, smelly attire I accumulated. When troubles happened, my mind became accustomed to choosing the apparel that it believed would allow me to survive the different seasons of life.
I haven't been able to locate the original garments I once possessed when a baby. My gentleness, love, calmness, and more were all scattered around in the thrift stores of life, making it almost impossible to find those original pieces. Most of us have been stripped of some beautiful garments that we were born with and were forced by life's happenings to give them away or lost them.
I sometimes go into the various thrift stores of life with a heart of sowing and restoring. I often search through aisles for the perfect piece of peace, the warmest coat of self-love, and the most durable shoes of courage, all clothing I've lost along the way. My soul feels joy after its tedious shopping sprees when it's able to find a piece of clothing that fits and restores its confidence. I grab them when I see them, even if they're damaged with holes. My heart is well with a needle and thread; it sews up the holes and cleans off the stains of pain so that my soul is no longer shivering with anxiety or too hot with unwashed anger. Although it's not my original piece, my soul is still grateful for it. Without others donating a portion of their courage or love, many souls would remain naked and cold, possibly never finding a garment to fit them again. Unfortunately, some souls didn't have the strength to walk into another thrift store to see what their spirit was missing. Some souls were tired of replacing their shoes of power and gave up searching because they couldn't find anything to wear. Some souls get tired of feeling weighed down by a smelly coat of anxiety, sadness, or loneliness. May we honor and bless those souls who couldn't make it into just one more thrift store, possibly finding that very jacket of courage and strength they needed to keep their souls warm.
When I feel the up to it, I am purposeful in trying to dress my soul in the clothing it was initially born in, slowly stripping off the dirty clothing that this imperfect world has piled on top of me. The jacket of anger, the pants of anxiety, and the shoes of low self-esteem; no longer looked good on me and were not tailored and made for my soul.
We won't always have what we need in our closets. Yes, we will always have to do the searching and working on dressing our souls with love or allowing them to remain in the dirty clothes we accumulate throughout life. Our lives will always consist of us going into the different vintage stores, continuously restoring our closets, to maintain our peace, courage, love, and compassion. All beautiful pieces of clothing are meant for us; we must find them or allow others to donate their wardrobe to us as we return that same blessing to someone else.
It's just as essential to keep our inner beings well suited as we do our external beings. What we allow our souls to wear will always be more important than what our physical body carries. I decided long ago, no more cute shoes for my physical feet when my internal soul has holes in the soles of its boots of unconditional love or courage. What good is a beautiful outside shell when the inside is malnourished, stinky, and poorly dressed? Prioritizing one over the other is what will ultimately decide if you live a life surviving or thriving. Getting your hair done is nice, but it won't solve that deep-rooted anger issue that developed when you lost your father at 15...
And this is where I ask you, the reader…
Have you checked your soul's closet lately?
What is your soul currently wearing?
Have you been to any thrift stores recently?
If not, it's ok; this isn't a time to beat yourself up or become discouraged. We all have a hole in our clothing somewhere. But we're in this together, so if you'd like to go thrifting later this week, let's do it.
I've needed to replace my shoes of fear with courage for a while now; to think of it, I could probably find some other missing attire my soul has been yearning for too.
We've all got some shopping to do...
Written with love by The Bounce Back Kid, but not the one and only, because you're a bounce-back kid too.
Hi will you be writing more content have loved your last two post so much please and thanks