So remember when Kelly assigned me the task of naming people who have been largely influential in making me who I am today (obvious choices not included)?
I've got another one for you: Nora Smith. Hm... or does she spell her name with an "h"? I could get up and go get a yearbook from allll the way over there on the bookshelf... but... nah.
Nora(h) Smith was my religion teacher my sophomore year of high school. Yes, I said religion teacher. No, you aren't losing your mind. I went to catholic school. Roman Catholic that is, not catholic as in church universal.
But I digress.
Let's talk about Nora(h). I don't think Nora(h) actually liked me all that much. My friend Theresa and I were constantly getting in trouble in her class for things neither of us were guilty of doing. We would stare at one another dumbfounded and protest claiming our innocence while Nora(h) shut it down and instructed us to talk to her after class. To this day Theresa and I maintain that at some point Mrs. Smith got it into her head that T and I were the Regina Georges of the class and was confused as to which females in the room were actually riling up the masses. It was weird.
Again, I digress.
Here is what was truly awesome (and totally weird) about Nora(h): she owned (and probably still owns) like four outfits. She would wear the same four dresses and one or two pairs of shoes on rotation every single day. All year long. Every. Single. Day. All. Year. Long. I'm pretty sure it was four because I remember it wasn't enough to get through the whole week.
And she was really open about it. Wearing the same few dresses isn't a private thing. "I don't need more than this" she would say. I really looked up to her in that. Man, I wish I could get to that point. I am clearly much harder on clothes or buy much crappier quality though.
Still, I really don't own a lot of clothes. Well, "a lot" is relative I suppose. Let's see... all of my shoes fit into a single-row closet hanging thing. So that's what? Like 10-15 pairs or so. And all of my hanging clothes fit on a single bar in the closet. All of my folded clothes fit into the dresser with room to spare. I'm not down to a rotation of four dresses, but man, that's gospel. Take two pieces of clothes, Christ told the apostles: a tunic and a coat (Mark 6:8-9). Don't store up treasures on earth and stuff your dresser full of clothes you don't need... (Matthew 6:19-21). I'm working on it. I'm working on it. My desire to constantly rid my life of possessions is part being raised Treasure House, part Nora(h) Smith, and largely Casey self-imposed strict Gospel interpretation on possessions.
Why? Hmm... why, indeed. Well, for me, because I think American consumerism is a sickness. I don't think we possess our possessions. They possess us. I don't want to own anything I wouldn't be able to walk away from. I believe in tithing and in order to give generously I need to not spend spend spend on myself. If all that I have belongs to God and it is a question of how much I keep for myself... then I want to keep very little. I don't want to own a lot of clothes and spend a lot of money (relative term again) on myself when that's money I can (should) give to the Church. And what about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)? Ugh, I don't want to be "that guy" who has a closet full of clothes and shoes and *shit* while Lazarus lies at my gates naked.
But... didn't I just say I want some new boots? crap.
Someday that will be me. Four dresses. That's the goal. Thank you, Nora(h) for proving it can be done.
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