I feel like every single trim is cutting a piece of me. Every time that brush swings past my scalp removing the hair that’s been cut, it feels like something is being taken away from me. I want my eyes to keep staring at the mirror, but I can’t stand looking at the image that is slowly becoming of me. The barber is asking me whether that’s it; (Is that it boss?) and I have to sadly agree with him, even though I am sure it’s not how I would love my head to look like.
As he massages my head with after shave and spirit, all of a sudden, I begin to appreciate the essence of the little things that don’t look as important as we would think, yet without them, it makes a whole lot of difference. Wait, is somebody cutting onions? I need a hankie for my eyes
Could I have done better? Could I have chosen a different hair style? Why did I even tell the guy to shave off all my hair in the first place?
I can’t give an honest answer, but a certain conviction moved me out of my house at 21:30 hrs to have this hair cut off from my head.
I stand up from the salon chair to pay for the service, tip the barber, and as I am moving out of the salon, the wind blows my head and for the first time in a long time, I feel the cool breeze on my head, and I hear a gentle whisper in my ears saying; ”A fresh Start”
Now, whether your reason is health, practicality, or style, shaving your head for the first time can feel a bit intimidating. A shaved head can be freeing, among other benefits, but can also be overly uncomfortable. But in the end, the choice to shave or not comes down to personal preference.
Fortunately or unfortunately for me, it wasn’t out of personal preference. The only thing that gave me strength and hope to face the world again was the assurance that came with the gentle whisper.
Hair does something to you, it does something to your demeanor, and therefore without it, a lot changes about you. Now I have to bear with society’s questions and disappointments.
A day will not go by without hearing statements like “I don’t like your new hair style”, or “What were you thinking?” or ”Why did you do this to yourself” as others look at me in mockery and laugh at me because of how I look.
I can only stick to the conviction that came with the gentle whisper, and as I meditate deeply on this situation, what was hair starts to look like the experiences of Life. I begin to see all this through the lens of life and then I realize that;
- There will be such times in life when all of us begin afresh. When life has to somehow reboot for us to live refreshed. And those seasons may or may not happen out of personal preference.
- When a fresh start happens in your life, it can be a bit intimidating, scary or even frustrating. That season might actually look ugly, but the end is always good.
- The people around you may or may not understand you, or what you are becoming. You may look strange, and the changes happening in your life may not be the preferred taste for many.
- You will have to endure lots of discouragements, disappointments, misunderstandings from people who don’t like your new hair style (Fresh Start). Some will laugh and mock in secrecy.
- Every day, you will wake up with the expectation that your hair has grown a bit longer; in other words, that your life should be better already; that things should get better already; but we all know hair doesn’t grow in a day. It is a process, and the details of the process are personal and different for everyone.
What I am trying to say is that you will go through a season of refreshing, refining, new beginnings or a fresh start sometimes, when even you yourself don’t fancy the way your life appears or looks, yet the end is that you become better, wiser, stronger and more beautiful and fruitful.
Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action), So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
God loves us so much that He doesn’t enjoy seeing us not bearing fruit, and therefore, He will prune us from time to time so that we may bear more fruit. It is His Joy to add value to us, so that we may be more valuable and resourceful for the kingdom. Jesus said, “Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].” John 15:2-3
So do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by how the society sees you especially when God is starting afresh with you, or taking you through a season of pruning. Always remember this is your time for God to deal with you so that you may bear richer and more excellent fruit. Remember, their time too will come.
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. Romans 8:5-8 MSG
Now, I am free, even from own judgment and guilt, because I realized that I didn’t just shave my head, but rather God used something Physical to teach me the spiritual; a fresh start in my life; and every day, when I look in the mirror, and see my hair grow back, darker and healthier, I thank God for what is happening in my character and spiritual life, whether i can see it or not, because there are things he is deliberately doing that I would never have experienced if I didn’t slow down a bit.
Friends, if you pay attention, God will speak to you through any kind of life’s experience. All you need is to focus and pay attention. That’s why I ask at the end of every article, “Who Is God To You Today?” (WiGTyT) Because he is multidimensional, and every day He manifests himself in a different dimension.
Don’t miss out on God’s milestones for your life because you despise your life’s experiences, for God doesn’t waste experiences; whatever He allows to happen in your life must be for your good. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 2 Cor 4:15 MSG Hallelujah.
Stay Blessed
WiGTyT
