Coffee Stains: Ponytails and Image
Author: David PorterIt’ll probably shock most of you to know that the thought of growing a ponytail has crossed my mind a few times recently. Of course I won’t do it but don’t you think I’d look like a free spirit?
No don’t get down on me too much. We all like to change our look at times. I read that Reese Witherspoon, she of Legally Blond fame, had a make-over recently and if she needs one, I reeeeeeeeally need one.
I’ve also thought of cutting all my hair off, growing a goatee and pumping a little iron to grow some muscles. That’s harder work than growing hair, though, so I probably won’t do it. Actually my daughter cut my hair really short once when I was in the States for awhile (I combed it with a washcloth) and I liked it.
But then I was afraid that my friends in France would make fun of me when I returned so I grew it back. You’ve got to be careful around my friends. One guy said to me after a haircut, ‘Tell me where you got your hair cut. I’ve got a friend that I want to play a joke on, and I’ll send him there.” Smart-aleck!
I guess I could dye it back to its original color but I’m not sure that would accomplish much. I knew a seventy-ish fellow who dyed his hair and it really looked good. He had the hair of a 40-year old. The rub was that he still had the face of a 70 year old, so in my way of thinking, he didn’t gain much.
You’re probably wondering how I’m going to get a spiritual application out of all this. So am I. Give me a minute, I’m thinking.
Some of the most delightful people I ever knew needed a make-over on the outside but it didn’t bother them at all. I think that’s what made them delightful. Aunt Finney was an elderly Luxembourgish lady who came to our church when she was 77 years old. People who didn’t know her might have mistaken her for a bag lady.
She lived with her old cat in a big, run-down house in Esch Alzette. The highlight of her day was to go to the restaurant in the morning for a good croissant and a cup of coffee. Actually, she probably ate more than one. I won’t tell you why I think that.
She loved to look at the jewelry in the shop windows but buying it didn’t tempt her, though she could have easily done it. ‘I just like to look at it,’ she said. Kind of like a museum I guess.
But as we got to know this white-haired lady and the Lord became more and more evident in her, she became a friend who impacted us for life. We were separated from our family and her people had all been dead for quite awhile. But I felt like I knew her father, mother, and brother as I listened to her old stories. I laughed as she remembered her childhood days. I felt myself living an adventure as I heard her tell stories of encounters with a scary soldier when she was a child in World War I and other stories of the evacuation of her city in the Second World War.
She filled the role of an older family member for a couple far away from their own family. I would never have dreamed it the first time I saw her though. After I knew her, I wouldn’t have made her over. She wouldn’t have been Tata Finney any more.
We spend a horrible amount of time worrying about the outside. It’s not completely bad. Some of us need to think more about it than we do. But what do you look like on the inside?
Would you like to be married to you? How would you like to be your friend? Can you imagine pastoring a church and all the people being just like you? How would you like to be God to someone like you?
“Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. GOD judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; GOD looks into the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7, The Message).
We all need to ask ourselves a question periodically, ‘Do I need a makeover, an inside out makeover?’
If the answer is ‘yes’ why don’t you go to the Lord’s beauty shop, praying and searching deeply in His Word. Let Him change you. You’ll love the new style He gives you.
In the meantime, how do you think I would look if I spike the front of my hair?