5 Ways to Get Out of a Head Covering Slump
Being one of the few bloggers that blogs regularly about head covering, you’d think that would be enough incentive to motivate and excite me toward head covering.
But I’m just like anyone else.
After the initial honeymoon phase wears off, head covering becomes just a regular part of my life. It’s special, for sure. But no more special than praying or serving.
So, I was driving to a blogging conference and it got me thinking about how I, as a head-covering blogger, felt like I’d been in a head covering slump.
I covered at church and during personal prayer (mostly), but where I once covered — during mealtime prayers or occasionally out of the house — I wasn’t.
I know covering isn’t the end all be all, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this head covering conundrum and figure out how to reignite my passion for covering again.
I’ve been doing some personal assessment and thought about the issue and wanted to share with my head covering community what I’ve discovered.
5 Ways to Get Out of a Head Covering Slump
1. Dig Deep
I started by looking into my personal relationship with Christ. Was my head covering slump telling me something about the condition of my heart?
Truthfully, my love language looks a lot like Martha – doing. When I love you, I will tell you by doing your dishes, building you a website or taking care of your kids. Don’t expect hugs or offers of watching a movie together. I want to be active.
The same is true of my spiritual life. I love to serve Jesus by doing…to a fault.
I once heard a preacher say that giving without receiving in return is like a person taking one breath in and giving two breaths out. Eventually, you wear yourself out.
I had to dig deep and realize that I’d been doing a lot of God’s work yet not receiving God’s Word and Spirit by spending intimate time with Him. Spending time with God can renew our passion for everything…including head covering.
2. Find New Friends
While so many of us are blessed with large head covering communities that we see weekly at church, many of us are the “lone covering lady” at our church.
And it can be…well, lonely.
Without head covering friends surrounding us, it’s easy to find ourselves in a head covering slump.
Recently, unbeknownst to me, an old friend found my head covering YouTube videos online and said to herself, “I wonder where she goes to church now.”
She was just recommitting her life to Christ after a long sabbatical of worldly living and didn’t know where to go to church. She decided to return to the church she grew up in. Wouldn’t you know that I happened to be going to that exact church? (In a metro area of over 2 million people–that’s pretty specific).
She immediately recognized me with my head covering and joyously came over during a break in our service.
Her newfound excitement about covering has been balm to my head covering slump!
3. Try a New Style
Naturally, we are creatures of habit.
We sleep on the same side of the bed every night.
We like our eggs cooked a certain way.
Especially as we age, there are very few times we opt for trying something new. We’ve found what works and what doesn’t. We don’t want to waste our time trying new things.
Let other people do that. Not us. Old Trusty. Let’s stick with what we know.
But when you are in a head covering slump, it might benefit us to step out of our comfort zone and try a new style.
Who knows, we might just decide we like it better!
If not, we might find that we are appreciative of our old style and find renewed joy in wearing that one.
4. Study
The history of head covering is interesting. From ancient sculptures to current Christian head covering in India there is so much we can draw inspiration from.
Here are a few ideas on some topical studies of head covering to get you started:
- Head covering in art (sculptures, paintings)
- Head covering among the …(insert some particular group of head covering women)
- Different ways women practice covering (ex. full-time covering vs part-time covering)
- Testimonials
- Head covering in media
If you haven’t done so yet, reading general books on head covering is also useful. Here are a few:
- Head Covering: A Forgotten Christian Practice For Modern Times by Jeremy Gardiner
- Covered Glory by David Phillips
- Headcovering Throughout Christian History by David Phillips
- The Headcovering in Worship by David Lipsy
- Good Order in the Church
5. Pray
I’ve saved praying for last, not because it’s the least important but because it’s the most.
If Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, prayer is the cement on which the rest of the building is attached. Without prayer, there is no relationship. Without relationship there is no faith.
If we are struggling in any area of our life, we should go to God in prayer and ask Him to fill in the gaps.
As silly as it sounds, when I got my house painted this fall I didn’t love the color. It was almost the right shade. As a graphic designer, the slight shade variation irked me. But I figured what’s done is done and I just prayed that the Lord would change my heart to enjoy the color that the house was.
And you know what…that house is growing on me.
Final Thoughts
I hope that these tips have helped you. Have you experienced a head covering slump? If you have, what got you out of it? Share your experience at our Head Covering Movement Facebook Group. Your words might encourage someone else!
- 5 Ways to Get Out of a Head Covering Slump - November 30, 2016
- 40+ Head Covering Tutorials on Youtube - October 17, 2016
- The Ultimate Head Covering Blog Post Roundup - May 10, 2016