Mirrors are a Girl's Worst Friend (especially on Sundays)

I think uniforms should be compulsory – every day of the week. Especially for people like me who practically have a panic attack every morning when they realise they have to choose another outfit to wear (didn’t I just do that yesterday???). And especially on Sundays.

I don’t know for sure where it started or what the thinking behind it is but every Sunday as I dress for church, I feel this pressure to look good. ‘Sunday Best’, I believe it’s called. Suddenly outfits that were fine every other day aren’t nearly good enough. After all, this is church! Outfit after outfit gets thrown on the floor in frustration (and quickly put away, in case my husband happens to walk in and see how many I’ve tried on and laughs at me for being such a girl...!) as I look in the mirror and see all the reasons they’re not good enough.  Before long, I’m trying on things long discarded at the back of my wardrobe in the hope of finding ... something. Anything.

The thing that makes it worse is that I don’t even go to a ‘dressy’ church. Looking around, it’d be easy to believe most of the people there had stopped in at church on their way to the beach or an afternoon kicking the footy around with family. There’s everything from sparkly high heels and designer clothes to singlets, shorts and Spiderman suits. It’s awesome! I love it! And yet, still I feel this pressure – purely because it’s this thing called church.

Some weeks, it’s enough to make me not even want to go.

Maybe it started with people wanting to look their best for God, but for me, the ingrained idea of ‘Sunday Best’ has become a huge distraction from God. It’s ridiculous. Just imagine how much better prepared for worship I would be when I arrived at church if I spent the ten minutes ... ok, half an hour ... (fine! I’ll admit it! It might occasionally have been an hour...) reading my Bible or being thankful for all God has given me, rather than wasting so much time stressing about what I’m going to wear. Working on getting my heart right with him, rather than worrying over which earrings match. Earrings which will probably be hidden by my hair anyway.

Both the Teen Missions trips I went on as a teenager were short on mirrors. I don't think it was purposely (unlike many of the other strict rules they have!), just not a high priority in the Thai orphanage we stayed at, or in the middle of the Amazon jungle. And I loved it. I have never cared so little about my appearance, yet, looking back over the photos, I've also rarely looked happier. I was far more focused on God and what he was doing than what I looked like.

Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with looking good. Far from it! Nor do I think that God doesn't care what we wear. I just think that I need to get my focus back onto what church is supposed to be about - God. Not me.

What if I looked in the mirror of my Bible, rather than the one in my bathroom? What if ‘church’ and the focus on God that I find so easily there began hours before the service?

It’s a challenge for me. Who knows? Maybe God’s challenging you too.