We’ve all experienced some rips and snags in the fabric of our lives these past few weeks, but a potential one has, I confess, filled me with a just a tiny bit of mean-girl satisfaction. Since it’s not a matter of life and death, maybe it’s okay to be just a little happy that, with hair salons closed, we may all get to discover what color our friends’ hair really is.
I’m certainly not happy that hairdressers may suffer financial hardship during the Coronapocalypse. No, no, a thousand times no. But when I heard some guys on a news talk show joking about possibly seeing their wives, for the first time, without their usual hair “camouflage,” it was pretty funny.
This is one pandemic bullet I get to dodge because I’ve never colored my hair. I figure I might as well let it slide over the old-age cliff with the rest of me. I don’t know if I’m one of “the few, the brave, the proud” or simply one of “the cheap, the lazy, the resigned,” but I’ve been watching my salt-and-pepper hair grow more salty for years.
I feel sure that during this time of social distancing, some women will panic and attempt to dye their own hair for the first time. I wish you luck, my brave, desperate sisters. Some hairdressers are even reportedly talking their customers through the hair-coloring process over the phone, which sounds a bit like guiding someone through landing a plane. So much potential for disaster there.
I frankly won’t be surprised if we see some do-it-yourselfers with overcooked Bozo-the-Clown hair when we all emerge from our hibernation. I’m not wishing that on anyone, but I am hoping that many women who’ve been forced to take the exit ramp off the Miss Clairol freeway won’t turn back. Maybe then gray hair will finally become trendy. I’ve never been trendy and it might be nice to experience that just once in my life.
I’m not, however, completely devoid of compassion. I’m very aware that whether it’s the color of our hair, the skeletons in our closet, or the state of our soul, it’s scary to let others see us as we really, truly are. Rejection can’t possibly hurt as much, we reason, if we haven’t exposed our true selves.
But what if we knew that someone—the One whose opinion matters most—sees through all our disguises, walls and pretenses, and loves us anyway? Well, He does, and if we dare to believe it, oh, what a difference it makes.
Pause for a minute and think…
… of the worst thought you’ve ever had.
… of the worst thing you’ve ever said.
… of the worst deed you’ve ever done.
God knew it, heard it and saw it—ALL of it—and it didn’t change His love for you one bit.
People don’t end up in hell because God stops loving them. If they end up in hell, it’s because they refuse to accept the greatest expression of His love: the giving of His Son, Jesus, to take our place on the cross and pay the penalty for all our sinful thoughts, words and deeds. But we have to choose to let Him pay it for us; otherwise, it’s on us and it’s infinitely more than we can pay.
It’s hard to let others see our true colors, but nothing feels better than knowing God does and still wants us to be with Him for all eternity. He invites and longs for us to come to Him, just as we are, gray hair and all.
So in these difficult times, I pray, as the Apostle Paul did, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:5).”