A little Modesty

I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.

1 Timothy 2:8

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
1 Peter 3:1-6

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Isaiah 61:9

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:28

My entire life I was taught to dress modestly.  We were not like the religious groups that choose to cover themselves from ankle to wrist and up on their neck, turtle neck style. But we were told how important it was and is, to be modest in our dressing. 

Little A is still pretty great since I am the one that purchases her clothing, I give her the option of choosing whatever is in the drawers for her to wear that day. (Most of the time she would prefer to stay in her pajamas, like a certain Grandma I know)   The other day we were at the store trying to find her a new bathing suit. Her previous bathing suit was given to us and was a bikini, Little A was constantly pulling at it trying to cover her tummy and would say, " its too small".  This time I asked her at the store if she wanted a bikini, tankini, or a one piece. She immediately chose a one piece or a tankini, she is already choosing modesty on her own and I love it. 



Today as I got my daughter dressed, I was thinking about modesty.  I was just racking my brain about how and when to teach her about modesty and that our clothing here on earth is of little importance. The concept of modesty still seems beyond a two year old, even one as smart as she is. 

Maybe if I start young enough she wont be a terror for me, like I was for my parents (not that I dressed badly, I just wanted to have the best clothing).  Maybe if she learns it now then she wont spend a crazy amount of money on clothing as a teen. Maybe she will be happy with the clothing that I buy her that is inexpensive. Oh and best of all, maybe there will be less fighting about the clothes she is wearing being inappropriate. 

Have you ever seen those preteen girls running around in clothing that shouldn't be worn by anyone their age let alone anyone else? Sometimes it just makes me want to grab the mother by the shoulders and shake her saying, "Think about what you are setting her up for. Do you really want her wearing things like that with all the horrible people in the world."

Think about how much easier it would be if we start setting our kids up for success now.  Teach them what modesty is and why it is so important. 

That no, there body is not a thing to be ashamed of. But it is something that is to be taken care of, saved for your spouse and treated as a temple.  
Maybe if we get it into their heads early then there will be less problems down the road.

At this point, our society is treating younger and younger girls like teenagers. Young girls dress like older girls. Pop songs that talk about sex and dirty things have the swears removed and are recorded by kids, so that our kids can listen to them. Younger and younger girls are having sex and getting pregnant.  Maybe the answer is not to leave them uneducated because talking about it is hard. Maybe the best way to go about it is to start a lot younger teaching them about how important their bodies are, how important they are. 

Lets teach the next generation to adorn themselves with unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.