Recently, a friend had been working in her garden and yard. When she came inside, her legs were itching from having been in tall grass. Her four-year-old granddaughter had already run water and gotten in the bath tub. The friend just stripped her clothes off and stepped into the tub and splashed water up on her legs.
“Ooo,” exclaimed the granddaughter as she covered her mouth with her hand in disgust.
“I wasn’t that dirty,” replied my friend.
“No,” pointing at her grandmother’s naked body, she said, “That. Has Paw Paw ever seen you naked?” commented the shocked child.
This incident reminded me of a time when a daughter and granddaughter went by the assisted living to pick up the ladies’ mom to take her to lunch. “Since you have a birthday coming up this week, Karen and I wanted to take you to lunch today.”
The older lady said, “That would be nice, but I’ll have to go into the bedroom and change my clothes.”
The granddaughter said, “Oh, you can do it in here, Grandma. We promise not to laugh.”
Nakedness is looked upon differently in different cultures, but all seem to feel it necessary to cover some parts. At one time, Adam and Eve felt neither shame nor remorse in their nakedness.
Genesis 2:25 says, And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
But after they sinned, their nakedness was a shame:
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Genesis 3:7
Genesis 3:9 – 11 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
It only takes a weekend trip to Wal-Mart to remind us that more body parts need to be covered today.