Gaining an Objective View

Recently, I have been reading a lot about Christian women and modesty. I am not writing today to debate or even suggest what I would define as modesty, but rather to address the problem today's Christian woman has in finding modest clothing that is complimentary to her shape, skin tones and personal style. I have never personally met a woman who did not care about her appearance to one degree or another. Admittedly, some women tend to focus on their appearance too much, but that is another topic.

Much to my husband's delight, I am one of those ladies who abhor shopping. However, when I go out for supper with my husband, to a social gathering or even to church on Sunday morning, I do not want to look like, as my grandmother used to say, an orphan. Thus, I must occasionally go shopping. I average about once every 18 months and will purchase 2 or 3 inter-changeable outfits.

Last year I had an occasion to need a couple new outfits and on a whim I found the most useful shopping tool, ever! Well, actually two tools - a friend AND a digital camera! I didn't take the friend to help with suggestions, I brought her along to operate the digital camera. (Don't worry, at the end of the day I did buy her lunch - after all, photography is a very labor intensive task and it was the least I could do.)

The results were AMAZING! The digital camera gave me an instant objective image of how I looked in any particular outfit. I was instantly able to see if the colors complimented my skin tone and hair color. I instantly saw whether I looked fat or frumpy. And, I had a full-length objective view of whether the outfit was modest for my figure and was complimentary for my hair style. I don't know what it is about a photograph, but I found it really gives a more objective view than any mirror.

Because I KNOW I look nice in them, the clothes I bought last year are still my favorites. After that shopping trip, I received, for the first time in my life, compliments from others regarding my appearance. Who would ever imagine a simple little digital camera would solve all my shopping dilemmas? Now, hmm, if I could only find an equally simple solution to housework ...