The Blue Dress Ball

Today - a story!

Maria had just found the perfect dress at the new consignment store in town. It was more like a gown than a mere dress, but it was the perfect shade of blue and fit like a glove. She giggled with glee as she looked at herself in the mirror.

She had moved to town little more than a year ago and quickly fell in love with the enchantment that filled the views from Main Street. Everything from the architecture of the old homes to the manicured lawns made her feel like she’d moved to the set of a cozy old movie. Everyone seemed friendly and welcoming.

Being forced to move from her old place a thousand miles away, she felt like her life was over. But here she could reinvent herself.

“Could life here really be this perfect?” she asked herself every morning as the sun came through her bedroom window.

But she was challenged to become an accepted member of her new community within the first few months of living there in paradise.

When the posters went up inviting the whole town to the annual “Blue Dress Ball” she knew it would be the perfect opportunity to show these folks what she was made of and how she could creative she could be when helping out. Staring at the poster, she imagined designing decorations and showing off her charcuterie board magic to pitch in with the catering.

The first day the planning committee met, she found herself sitting in the middle of a room filled with women who already knew their role; women who made it clear that they had things all wrapped up before she even moved to town. The meeting was just a social event that aimed to bring grand attention to the ones who always made it a huge sensation.

Saddened, but not defeated, Maria eased into the idea of attending without being taxed by securing party perfection. What a novel idea. In her old town she was the one who pulled everything together, constantly overwhelmed and exhausted after each community event.

“This might be a good thing,” she mused to herself with a chuckle, knowing she’d soon become frustrated with the notion of not being needed.

She did her best to be available should someone ask for her help with something, but when the big day dawned, it turned out that she wasn’t needed at all.

“I’ll just enjoy myself and get to know everyone,” she concluded.

Entering the park that surrounded the town center pavilion, she marveled at the lights and decorations the women had contrived. It was truly beautiful. Half the town was already there by the time she waltzed up front smiling from ear to ear, ready to introduce herself to everyone she hadn’t yet met.

Before perusing the heavenly smelling delicacies on the beautifully adorned tables and before the music swept her off her feet, she realized that no one was smiling back at her. As a matter of fact, they all seemed to be scowling at her.

One pretty teenager sashayed past her and spoke quite loudly, to be heard over the music and to make sure she embarrassed the newcomer. She said, “It’s called the Blue Dress Ball” for a reason, ma’am.”

She tossed her curls over her shoulder and joined arms with her friends without missing a beat. They all laughed at her like she was a freak.

“My dress has blue on it!” she insisted to herself, trying to keep the smile from falling off her face.

Her smart dress was white with small blue flowers coming up from the hem. As she peered around at all the other women, she saw them lower their faces and shake their heads.

She quickly made her exit and ran home.

Sitting at her table in tears she promised she’d never speak to a single woman in this mean-spirited little town.

Then, no. She realized that wasn’t true. She’d have to speak to them. She lived there now. “What happened to the enchantment?” she whimpered.

She changed into her pajamas and into bed early, forcing her thoughts to avoid her feelings of humiliation.

Facing the townsfolk in the following days proved easier than she’d thought and before long, she began to feel like maybe she did belong there after all, noting that NEXT year, her dress for the ball would be completely blue.

Now she stared at the beautiful blue dress she’d found and bought before anyone else had a chance to snatch it up.

By the time the posters went up publicizing the ball this year, she was ready. She’d dropped her dress at the cleaners to make sure it was clean and pressed before the big night.

No, she didn’t get to help much this year either, but she pushed her way in where she could. Working from home didn’t give her the opportunities to make friends in the workplace. But she overzealously tried to find common ground with most every woman in the grocery store or the other shops on Main Street.

She was reluctantly invited to help put the posters up. “They don’t know what they’re missing,” she comforted herself. “I can do so much more, we could work together, my ideas would complement theirs, not challenge them. Maybe next year.”

This year, she would again try to enjoy being a mere participant, properly dressed this time!

The day before the ball she walked all the way to the dry cleaners, hoping to strike up conversation with anyone who looked her way. She wasn’t all that successful but talked the ears off the girl behind the counter at the cleaners.

When the girl retrieved the dress for her, she reached out with joy, knowing she’d fit in this year.

But the air left her lungs as she beheld her beautiful GREEN dress.

“How could this have happened?” she whispered to herself, trying to hide her panic.

She nodded at the girl and quickly left, clutching the dress close so no one would ask to see it. Not that anyone did.

She hurried home, forcing her tears to wait till she was behind closed doors.

She hung the dress in the hallway and stepped back to look at it again. She choked on her own spit. How had her beautiful blue gown turned green? Was this some cruel joke conjured up by someone who knew how embarrassed she’d been last year? She stared at it for at least ten minutes before she tossed it in the closet, letting it fall to the floor and slammed the door shut.

“The ball is tomorrow night. There’s no time to find something else that will work, surely every blue dress in town had been bought up by now,” she spoke down to herself. Even the few friends she’d made wouldn’t be able to help.

“It is what it is. I just won’t go,” she said with a stiff upper lip. “Maybe I’ll drive to the next town over and see a movie. By myself.”

After a deep breath and a promise to herself not to cry, she headed to the kitchen for ice cream.

A week later, disappointment still covering every place on her face, she was searching for a missing sneaker. “I live alone!” she muttered, “How can it not be with the other one?”

Crawling on her bedroom floor, she looked under the bed on both sides, then reached up to turn the knob on her closet door. Pulling it open, she grumbled a curse on herself if it wasn’t hiding somewhere in there.

Sitting crossed legged on the floor in front of the closet, her eyes wandered over to the new dress she’d refused to look at all week, still covered in the dry cleaners plastic.

Before she could even begin to search for her sneaker, her eyes widened and she gasped, holding her hands over her mouth.

In slow motion, she reached forward to grab at the dress.

The plastic wrap protecting it was – yellow!

How had she not seen that the day she picked it up?

She frantically ripped off the plastic to see that yes; her dress was still – blue.

She had no one to blame. She had no words to hurl at her own baffled brain. She felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes. She rocked back and forth for a few minutes, holding the dress to her chest. Then she wept.

 

What illusions are we falling for?

What color is the veil that hides God’s truth from us, keeping us from fulfilling His purposes in our lives?

What color veil has satan hung between our eyes and our reflection, hiding our beauty from us?

Our heavenly Father is the only One Who sees us as we truly are, because He sees the new creation we became when we first trusted in His Son.

I’m praying we begin to recognize the “protective plastic” that obscures truth and fools us into believing lies about ourselves AND lies about God, Himself.