Have you ever had a haircut that made you wish you would have never entered the salon doors? It was just a year ago that my hair was getting long and I really loved it. I had gone into the salon for a trim, but oh no, that wasn't enough for this girl. I had to pick up the hair magazines. You all know them well, don't you? It's the magazines we just pick up and glance at thinking, "Well now, isn't that a cute hair do?"
We turn the pages and now we have it in our mind that a trim just won't do. We must have something new and different. Paleeez, I wish I had an inch of hair for every time I got the itch for something new.
So, here we are. We find the photo of the cutest short haircut ever and we begin thinking it's going to look great on us. The thing is, we are not at all the girl in the photo and our hair happens to be totally different than hers is, but we tell our self, "It's going to look amazing!"
But what happens? The stylist says, "Are you sure you wanna go that short?" You pipe up with a smile and say, "Yep, it's time for a change", only in about twenty minutes or so you are going to be wishing that change hadn't taken place.
It seems I can never learn my lesson. Not only did I go in for that short haircut and come out hating it, I decided to grab myself a perm not too long ago. Why do we do these things to ourselves? I know why. I really can answer that question at least for me!
I can tell you each and every time I have entered a salon there has been an issue or a situation in my life that has driven me to tears and to the breaking point. I end up thinking, "I will go get myself a new do and feel better." This is almost laughable, but wearing that new do isn't so laughable as it's growing out. I spend the better part of my time now wishing for my hair back.
Do you ever find yourself wishing for time back? Time that is now lost. Time that has now changed and you find yourself wanting to go back to the way things were so badly. The thing is, we can't go back. Growth hurts at times and no matter how much we wanna trim off, we need to realize sometimes we just need to back away and give God the time He needs to work things out.
But isn't that life with us? I mean really, we think something will make life easier, but we later find out that very choice made things worse. We have an issue and we get in our mind that we gotta make it better. We don't sleep, we don't eat or we eat everything in sight. We see that circumstance and we want to change it so badly, but like the change I bring to my hair, it doesn't always turn out like I think it will.
So, what do you do? Don't walk into that salon! Take a step back and focus on the beauty before you, not so much what you think needs changed or fixed, but the very blessing before you. We tend to take things to the extreme as my baby girl would say. We over ponder issues when all we need to do is step back and allow the Lord to do His thing. Sometimes just throwing that hair back in a pony and waiting a few days makes you rethink the whole trim idea. You then realize things aren't so bad after all. In fact, they look pretty good now that you have really taken the time to really think about it.
Just like growing out my hair, it takes time. I can look in a picture book and think, "Wow, I wish I had that hair do" or "Gosh, that would be great". Sometimes we just need to put down the book and take a look at what we do have. Is is really so bad? Could it be worse? Of course it could. It's just the same as thinking the grass is greener on the other side. That's not always true. We only see the surface picture, not what's underneath, what the frame holds and what's not in the picture. We can't see what it took to for them to get there at that picture in life. Just maybe they had to go through a few trims of their own before they were content.
It's tough waiting on God, isn't it? Patience is hard, but Jesus never said life would be easy. He just promised He would be there for us. We allow our emotions to take hold of us and stir us in ways we never handle well. We feel resentment, anger, hurt and bitterness. We get upset at our husband, our wife, our children, our friend, that co-worker who just never seems to stop and what do we do? We end up taking it out on ourselves. We end up sitting in front of the mirror asking ourselves, "Why did I do this to myself?" But just like life, sometimes we make issues worse by jumping the gun. I am slowly learning to step back and wait on the Lord. It's not easy, but I'm getting there with practice.
I look back at some of my pics over the years and am reminded of the battle scars through those little trims and changes I thought I needed. We don't need to change the outward appearance. We need to allow God to change our inward appearance. Once He does the make over there, the outward appearance comes next and boy, it just seems to glow. It's then that everyone says, "Hey, I love your new look. Where did ya get it?" That is your open door to share the Lord with that person standing before you.
Be careful ladies, those stops at the salon can make us feel worse than when we walked in, so take your time. Think about the reason your entering the salon in the first place. Is it because you really do need a trim or is it something emotional taking place? Maybe what you really need is to just step back, throw your hair up in a pony tail and spend some one on one time with the Lord. It's through Him that we get that real make over and He is pretty much the greatest Artist we could pay a visit to.
"Be still and know that I am God!"
Psalm 46:10a
"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
Romans 12:2
"Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."
1 Chronciles 16:11
