My last post was on modesty. How high should the modesty bar be set? I don't know. But I do know that as I stated in my last post we are numbed down a bit (or a lot) by the low standards of our culture. I mentioned that I have had three dresses I've had to ditch - two were too short for The Bob's comfort, and one was too cleavage enhancing....and I'm not even well endowed. (Ahem) Anywho, in making my point about how numbed down we are, I'm going to share the story of the last dress being ditched with you....
I got it on clearance for seven dollars. It was for a wedding. It was black. It hid my imperfections (aka fat). Perfect! And I wore it many times, until one day The Bob said, "That dress is really kind of short." It fell just at the top of my knee cap. The bottom of the dress just grazed the top of my knee cap. Not too bad most would say. But when you sit down, then that inches even shorter. I threw off his comment that on that day I had worn it differently. I usually wore it with flats or sandals. If I wore it with heels, I had on black hose. The day he told me it was on the short side, I had on heels, no hose. I just figured that combo made my legs look elongated. And my friends felt me to be a modest dresser, and my friends thought it was modest. Surely The Bob was over reacting and his standards way too high. So, I kept wearing it with sandals and flats.
I have mentioned on the blog my brother-in-law in prison. And that I saw him for the first time this past Christmas Eve. That is true. But that is not the first time I tried to see him. Last spring, I tried. We went after church, and I had on my black "surely not too short" dress. I can guarantee everybody at church that day would have said I was dressed modestly. Absolutely guarantee it. Everybody except The Bob, that is. So, we enter the prison, the guard at the desk immediately says, "You cannot wear that dress in here." I. Was. Furious. (Remember I still had bitterness issues at this time as well! See my prison visit post titled "Go Fish") I immediately left and set up a time with The Bob to pick him back up. I rode around for an hour fuming the whole time. When I picked The Bob up, his first words back in the car were, "I told you that dress was too short." I ditched the dress thinking that it was not too short, but now bad memories and great irritation would be associated with it.
To most the dress was not too short. Them hem line fell at the top of my knee. But we are all on the outside and we are bombarded with images of people dressed 20x's worse. Every time I drive down the interstate I have to pass by a Hooters billboard. And we see immodesty and impurity everywhere! We see it on TV. We see it in movies. We see it at the grocery store. And unfortunately, we even see it at church. Those prisoners though...they are not on the outside. The don't have these images of women flaunted in front of them every single day. So, they probably have a much higher sensitivity to physical images because of that. They are not bombarded with images that numb them down. So yes, I'm about to admit this for the first time ever.....the dress was too short! Whew! There. I said it. Standing, yes the dress was fine. But sitting. No. Sitting made it inch up too high. And that could have been an issue for a prisoner there. And when I think about it, that prison guard was really protecting me!
Back in January I borrowed a dress from a friend to go out on my anniversary with The Bob. It was too short. It was shorter than my "prison dress"!! I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I think I was thinking I had nothing to wear to go out for my anniversary. Anyway, I fought that dress all night...tugging it down when I sat, thinking about how short it was when I sat, holding it down when the wind blew cause I felt like it would blow up and show who knows what. It was miserable. That borrowed dress, the prison dress, and that most excellent survey I posted changed my views on modesty. I now see that The Bob's high standards for me should be valued.
I am a Christian and the way I dress should be above reproach.
{ And the rule now is...if the dress does not cover the knee when sitting, it is too short! :) }
{Survey HERE}
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