Ah, a subject I can hairly wait to write about.
When can you dive in a swimming pool and not get your hair wet ? When your bald !
A few years ago, there was a play you might have heard of with a theme song whose lyrics were as follows:
Gimme a head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy
The problem is, tah dah, I don't have any. Or at least not much. The top of my head is as slick as the landing area of an aircraft carrier. That part of scripture that says God counts every hair on our head, well, it don't take long for him to do it with me. I'm so bald that when I wear a turtleneck, I look like a roll on deodorant.
I'm so bald, that when my grandson Gavin, who turned four today, hopped into my lap he studied my balding head. He ran his fingers along the deep wrinkles and road mapped my face and neck. "Did God make you?" he asked. "Yes" I answered. "Did God make me, too?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "Well," he said, shrugging, Don't you think he's doing a better job with creating our heads now than he used to?"
It's true. Hair today, gone tomorrow.
I read this story this morning: "In a competition dominated by pooches with rock-star hairdos, little Coal sticks out at New York's Westminster Dog Show like a sore thumb from a fur glove. He's bald.
Coal, a four-year-old Chinese Crested, barks, wags his tail, and trots like a dog. But unlike dogs from the other 178 breeds vying for Tuesday's Best in Show prize, Coal and his fellow Chinese Cresteds have almost no hair. Hair tufts adorn his paws, the top of his head, and along the tail, but there's nothing between, creating the impression of something that put on a hat and boots, but forgot to get dressed."
So what is the point of all this?
If one is worried about appearance, how one is perceived by others, and if something as superficial as ones hair really runs ones life, there is something horribly out of whack in ones life.
The Bible describes the greatest human to live, our dear Lord Jesus, this way: "Just as there were many who were appalled at him -- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness — so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him." Apparently Jesus was nothing to shout about in terms of appearance, and at the end he was so disfigured that as he changed the world by taking our sins, he looked horrible, dahling.
The problem is we look at someone and the outward appearance is what matters to us. I've heard of churches who decide on the righteousness of someone by how they DRESS for church. White long sleeves versus white short sleeves? Come on. We've decided that tattooed persons can't possibly be Christians. Long hair? Can't have them in our church. God forbid the color of their skin be something different than our own.
Outward appearance means so much to us, but it meant very little to Christ. If you know hearts, why worry about how our neighbor looks?
Jesus himself told us to "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
And he threw down on the Pharisees by saying, "You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
In other words, take care of your hearts before you worry about the clothes you wear or the appearance you make or whether your hair will bring you salvation. It won't, no matter how long your women grow it or how you curl long parts of it for your Orthodox Jews.
So, as the lyrics tell us, "Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair"
I've got to go now. I need to go outside and get some fresh hair.
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