Rankin1023web

TheTime COIN
Camille Anding
Clothing fashion is fascinating!
What is “in” may linger for years or go “out” with the speed at which it came in. I’ve noted that
serious shoppers know fashion and know what items to avoid on the sales racks. Others, like me,
appreciate the sales racks and are drawn to them – more conscious of the money I spend than
what fashion may dictate.
When I was in the impressionable years of high school, I was much more aware of the latest
fashions and the peer pressure feeding it. I’m dating myself when I can remember the joy of
owning my first and only “sack dress.” The name certainly didn’t give the dress any enticement,
but that wasn’t the point with fashion. It was the latest fad, so my sensitive mother who understood
a young girl’s longing, ordered a sack dress from Montgomery Ward – the Amazon of the day.
It was a lime green print with a white collar. The only seams were down the sides and at the
shoulders. It was far removed from the usual pinched-in waists and full skirts of my other dresses.
Becoming? Hardly! I was wearing a lime green sack! But I was IN STYLE!
Years later I was in a Bible study with an older saint who attended every study with her well-worn
Bible and wearing her well-worn dresses. Her scant selections were always clean and free of
wrinkles, but style had nothing to do with her purchases at the thrift stores. A meager fixed
income dictated her wardrobe.
However, over the years I never thought about what was in her closet but what was in her heart.
Her love for God’s Word inspired me to love it more. Her radiant smile reflected her kind, gentle
heart, and her giant, embracing hugs for all in the class, showed me the love of Christ. She was one
of the most “fashionable” Christians I have ever known. She wore what God’s chosen ones put
on according to Colossians 3: “holy and compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness,
patience and forgiveness.” Hers was an enviable closet.
82 • OCTOBER 2023