The Old Hoodie

My older brother and I were discussing spiritual matters one afternoon. Though our communications are spread out due to busy lives, when we can have a lingering conversation, it always involves sharing something that God is personally speaking into our hearts. I get blessed when I spiritually converse with him. He's one of my favorite people to do this with because he's so full of God's Word and the wisdom that results from such fullness.

In the context of something he was sharing that particular day, he mentioned that he had an old hoodie, a most comfortable one, which he had had for quite a while. It was very worn and noticeably frayed, but, even so, he wore it all the time because it “still fits ok.” And really—truth be told—at the time, he didn't have another one.

At that particular moment, there was no backup hoodie.

However, he had recently come to the obvious realization that he needed a new hoodie, convinced that the need for change couldn't be ignored any longer; action would need to be taken. It was time. Time to set aside the old hoodie—intended only to faithfully serve a good purpose for just a designated season of life—to make room for a new one.

My brother wasn’t really talking about a hoodie that day, even though he was.

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Sometimes, there are seasons when our all-good, all-knowing, all-wise God brings us to a place like this in our lives. A place where we finally have to lay down the “old hoodie," the one that’s faded and threadbare, that’s been a part of us for oh so long, that’s working but really isn’t, so that we can make room for the new. Usually, there’s nothing easy about this because that hoodie represents a significant part of our identity. Accustomed—despite its lack, we’ve become—with its familiarity and feel. And all who personally know us know that’s our hoodie.

But deep inside—if we can be gut-honest with ourselves—we know that its purpose in our life has been served, and the hoodie's season has reached its end. It’s just the knowing and the acting upon what we know are two different realities.

Because it’s not easy at all to part with a once-functional, well-loved hoodie.

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In our sojourn on this planet, there are times when what was once a perfect fit is no longer such a fit. Times when something that once functioned oh so wonderfully loses its prime functionality. And, honestly, these are often some of the hardest seasons—and sometimes most confusing—of the journey. They really are.

There might be a myriad of reasons why this reality occurs; regardless, when this happens, there’s no use in holding on, thinking, and believing—trying one way or another to convince ourselves—that the hoodie might revive its worn-out self, or all of a sudden miraculously fit or function as it once did. No, that thing, that relationship, that job, ministry, or mission has changed too much. Or, possibly, the greater change has been in us. Sometimes, it’s both. However, in these moments, the whys and the what once was are really secondary to what now is.

Simply put: There’s just been too much evolution, too much transformation, for business as usual to carry on. Though a most challenging place to be when this happens, because it can be a time of vulnerability, uncertainty, and fear, if we’re seeking God and listening only for His voice (abiding in His Word and obeying, and aligning our spirit‘s will to the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit, who always works in agreement with the truth of Scripture, but also uses the realites of our circumstances and the inner-knowing knawing in our spirits), God will bring us to a point where we have the peace to accept that change is necessary, and the courage to take the initial steps in a new direction. Then, in time, as we continue to follow His lead, though we might not know what our “next hoodie” will be, He will prove Romans 8:28 to be most true.

He’s just such a good God like that.

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There’s no denying that it’s tough, and often painful, to let go of something or someone that was once a perfect fit. To relinquish that which once represented the best version of ourselves or purpose. But if we don’t let go, we leave no room for God to usher in the new. We leave no room for Him to showcase Himself as the Great Provider, Sustainer, and Manager of our lives.

In a fresh way. In a deeper way.

In a way that will result in abundant peace, purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

This is why we must lay down the “old hoodie,” trusting that the new one, which God will so wisely and graciously provide, will be the right fit—a beautiful fit— for us.