In the beginning was the Word and Thousands of Years Later was Lost and Found (Introduction): Part One

          Before I begin I’d like to point out that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Although blogging is something I’ve thought about for quite some time now, it wasn’t until I started a clothing brand that I actually made the conscious decision to try it out in hopes that real people (and not just the Google algorithm) would someday read it. Now before I dive any deeper let me introduce myself:

Me in Florence ca. 2019, probably stuffed with pizza and gelato as usual

          My name is Madison and I am the founder, CEO, and designer here at Lost and Found Apparel. Hello and welcome!! If you’re reading this right now I want you to know that, among other reasons, I started this blog as part of my vision to develop a community in which Christians and unbelievers can come together through the power of the Holy Spirit and connect in ways that they otherwise would never have been able to. In the age of social media platforms that I could frankly care less about, I thought it would be refreshing to use this platform as a place where we could all engage with one another in love and compassion rather than self-centeredness and judgement. So with that, feel free to comment, reach out, and get engaged in this community. Send me an email, DM us on Instagram, reply to that person’s comment, go for it!! All I ask is that we all approach this brand and one another with nothing but love and respect. It’s so easy to go through life with a negative attitude (believe me, I know that firsthand and my mom would agree...). But I hope and pray that this space would be one where people who do not know Christ may come to find Him, and for those who already know Him, they may be welcomed with open arms by other Christians who know what it feels like to be in the same season that they may be presently finding themselves in. 

          Truthfully, I don’t read blogs myself but I enjoy a good book and would probably get into them if I really sat down and found one that genuinely piqued my interest. The reason why I say this is because if there were some sort of structure or rule for how to properly and successfully write a blog, I definitely would have missed it. So please bear with me as I attempt to navigate this platform and if I write in a way that seems unconventional, then so be it. Though my dad for as long as I can remember has lovingly criticized my writing for being full of “fluff” and too charismatic for his taste, I find that I most enjoy writing as though I were having a verbal conversation with the reader; that is to say, you. The biggest difference there is that my speaking is probably not nearly as eloquent as compared to my written words (if I am even the slightest bit eloquent on here), especially because of my slightly obnoxious and very involuntary Long Island accent (I promise not to write “dog” as “dawg” and “coffee” as “cauwfee” at any point in the future)...Also, I’m probably a bit more whimsical of a writer in that, ever since reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (which I plan on finishing today and highly recommend for anyone who hasn’t read it themselves), I feel I’ve taken on the persona of a 64-year old British man from the 1930’s. I hope to break myself from this facade soon and eventually grow into my own voice that God administered to me, but until then I will do my best to resist this temptation in an effort to be my own, authentic self in Christ…

          But getting back to my initial point (and I apologize for the seemingly pointless “stream of consciousness” writing, I’m pretty sure there is in fact a point to this whole spiel) when you think about it, why would anyone want to read things that weren’t all warm and fuzzy? Especially with the way our world has become--or rather, since it has been since the beginning of Creation. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read self-help books that are candid and concise, but this blog is not structured in that sort of format simply because it’s not my goal to write a self-help book. I’m just writing from my own Christian perspective in hopes that by voicing my personal thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc., that it might help someone who stumbles across this page. God connects us all in unimaginable ways so who knows how this might impact someone (or even myself or both) in the long run! And anyway, Kathleen Kelly from You’ve Got Mail (my favorite movie of all time) wrote it best: “Dear Friend, I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation. I pretend that we’re the oldest and dearest friends, as opposed to what we actually are, people who don’t know each other’s names and met in a chat room where we both claimed we’d never been before…” How sweet is that?! With all of the people who are against us in the world, let’s just try to get along and be dear old friends. Let’s all try that mentality out for a while and see how far it takes us. Nothing but rainbows and butterflies over here (and fashion and Jesus of course).

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) probably writing to me in the comments section of this post - You’ve Got Mail, 1998

          Moving on to what I will (God willing) write about exactly--this will pertain to my personal relationship with the Lord and how that relates to my clothing brand, Lost and Found. Some future posts I assume will relate solely to Christianity and others may be heavily fashion based with a Christian flair. Honestly, I’m a wild card so I can’t say for sure that there won’t be a week down the road where I just want to ramble on about my semi-unhealthy admiration (cough cough obsession) for Jimmy Stewart or a random baking fail that people are typically all too eager to talk about. But whether you decide to engage or not with this brand and community is your personal choice. Just know that this isn’t a place of judgement either way...You don’t even need proof of vaccination to be here (bad joke--I’ll try not to be too political but for the record, I align my views with teachings from the Bible and do not believe that any party is perfect by any means..). And full disclosure, I will never claim to be perfect. Aside from what I had previously stated, I’d like to use this blog as an opportunity to use my God-given talents to glorify Him and once again connect with others through the Holy Spirit. What I write comes from my own beliefs based on the Bible, but I am not claiming to personally have all of the answers all of the time...If you want to read perfection, read the Bible. If you want an open, honest opinion from a Christian conservative twenty-three year old girl/woman trying to make it in the fashion industry, then keep reading. 

          The only thing I’ll ever say for certain is that we as Christians are called to live our lives according to Jesus’ Words and the teachings of the Bible -- and if you disagree, here are the verses to back it up:

Matthew 22:36-40: 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 28:19-20: 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

1 Peter 4:10-11: 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

          ...And of course, there are verses like 1 Corinthians 10:31 and about a hundred more that guide us on how to conduct our lives as Christians and how to interact with the world around us. As I progress with this blog, I plan on diving deeper into these verses because each one is worthy of an entire post in and of itself. I don’t plan on being this discombobulated in future posts but I guess any introduction should be taken with a grain of salt as I am totally overthinking every word that I type onto the page at this point. First encounters are always nerve-wracking in my opinion, but I think I'll get the hang of it as time goes on  - just think, it can only get better from here. Having said that, if you’d like to hear my take on any one thing in particular (whether it be related to my faith, fashion, or whatever else), just comment on my page or feel free to email! Trust me, I’ll be here...

          Lastly, if you’ve made it this far, be sure to come back once I post next week’s blog about the inspiration behind my clothing brand itself and the journey that led from concept to creation. Thanks for reading!