Dressing Room Secrets

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The busy little girls were pumped. I knew them not but couldn’t help but overhear their conversation as it echoed with excitement throughout the stalls for all to hear within the dressing room walls.

In deep concentration I was trying to focus on the lump of items before me. Dressing rooms are sacred ground. Entering them with dreams and visions of how one will look in any given piece of clothing on any given day is often in stark contrast to the reality of what is reflecting back in the dressing room mirror.

They say mirrors don’t lie but there have been many a time when I was certain that the mirror-mirror on the wall was warped. At least that’s what I told myself.

Apparently, the perception gathered about self from those dressing room mirrors begins young. I heard the little voices first hand.

“I think that sort of makes you look fat,” one stated to another in vocal tones resonating that of an eight to ten-year-old.

Moments passed before another little one asked…apparently now doubtful as to whether or not the clothing they’d chosen was worthy of purchase. “Does this make me look fat?”

I just couldn’t help myself. I invited myself into their conversation. “Did you know that if you have a piece of clothing on that doesn’t fit right…that you are not fat…but rather it’s the clothes fault?”

Silence ensued.

I stuck my head out of the dressing room to see three little freckled face girls standing before me in a colorful array of striped watermelon patterned summer jumpers. “We’re going to have a lemonade stand and we thought these would be fun to wear!”

I noted the various body shapes…and heights…but the hearts were all the same sized…big. Nothing was going to sway them from enjoying the process immensely on a hot summer day…except maybe a little self doubt.

I went on. “Yes…it’s true…if something doesn’t fit you quite right…your body is just fine because 'You are fearfully and wonderfully made!'”

The people who make the clothing don’t know what fits you so sometimes they make things smaller and sometimes they make things bigger. You just have to keep trying on different things until you find one that fits you right. It’s not you! Those clothing people just don’t have a clue as to who is going to buy their stuff sometimes!

Soon, their grandma who was hiding out in another stall nearby poked her head out. One eager little girl explained, “Grandma…did you know that if people look fat in some clothes, they really aren’t but it’s the clothes fault?”

Grandma appeared delighted with this line of logic and all because we are not only fearfully and wonderfully made, but His works are wonderful (Psalm 139:14). Amen.

Kathleen Kjolhaug, Oblate Candidate

This blog was first published on Theology in the Trenches, written and maintained by Oblate Candidate Kathleen Kjolhaug. Reposted with permission.