This shirt is perfect. The long sleeves make me feel cozy, it's light enough for me to breathe in, and the quality is really, really good. It's not one of my hipster shirts, but I wear it almost as often. This shirt is good for soccer games in the fall, early morning runs, summer night adventures, even just bumming around the best friend's house. It's a darn good pajama shirt too.
But everyone else hates my shirt. For one little, tiny reason.
It's the shirt of my high school's rivals.
I'm not one to give into peer pressure, this is my favorite shirt so I wear it when I want. But I remember one incident, last spring, where my stubbornness went just a little too far.
We were at Borgia high school (the Alma mater of my favorite shirt!) for a track meet. I guess it's kind of a thing to wear your own school colors when you're competing, but I didn't have any long sleeve Union shirts. Is it my fault we always order T-Shirts instead of sweatshirts? No.
I guess I didn't think about how odd that must have looked in the stands, for Union's section:
Union Hoddie. Union T-Shirt. Union Hoddie. Union Jacket Union T-Shirt. Union Jacket. Union Hoddie. Union T-Shirt. BORGIA Shirt. Union Hoodie. Union Jacket.Union Hoodie. Union Hoddie. Union T-Shirt. Union Hoodie. Union Jacket. Union Hoddie. Union T-Shirt.
Maybe it would have been different if we weren't competing against them that day, or if I'd worn a Union T-Shirt over it. But I remember, me wearing my Borgia shirt became quite the controversy. One mom came up and asked if she found a long sleeve Union shirt for me, would I wear it. She explained, "I don't want other people thinking you're from Borgia. Union wants to claim you!"
That was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. At least that day, while I'd been wearing that shirt.
And this is about the time, where I slip in my Jesus-analogy. GET EXCITED!
Sometimes I think as Christians, we wear the wrong shirt.
I mean, we are Christians. We accept Jesus into our hearts, and want to follow him through and through. But as far as representing Him, well I know I've done my fair share of failing.
What about us shows people we follow Jesus, completely sold out. Anything?
And the weird thing is, just like Union wanted to claim me, God wants to claim us too. He wants to be like "That girl? With the crazy good art skills and ability to knit? Yeah, I made her! She follows me!"
But God is a gentleman. Jesus purchased the shirt for us when he gave up His life on the cross. He's put it in a gift bag and handed it to us. But He's not going to shove our arms up and push the shirt onto us. That's something we need to do because we love Him.
Something I noticed at that meet was, wearing my Borgia shirt, I didn't really fit in anywhere. Obviously I stuck out like a sore thumb with Union. But when I passed by the Borgia section, I got some stares too. Because I wasn't a Borgian, I was a Unionite.
If we're Christians, we need to accept here and now that we aren't going to fit in with the world, we weren't made for it, so why should we look like it? But we aren't going to be doing Christ much good if we don't represent Him either.
So there you have it. Tomorrow morning, choose your outfit wisely.
Live without pretense. Love. Drink more water.
A.Diez
