By Dawn Milz

Hair has been the subject of literature, part of culture, and certainly a topic for conversation since the beginning of time! And certainly, ever since you were a little girl, your own hair has shaped a part of your being … your personality. Or your personality has shaped your hair!!

SO … think about it … what is the mental image you have of your hair?

Our hearts want to believe what writer M.S. Lowndes wrote:

Lord, may I reflect your beauty, And to care not about what’s on the outside, But rather on what’s inside. The beauty of a Godly life.

Intellectually, that is true, but I do believe we give our hair a lot of thought … and it often causes us a lot of stress! We spend a lot of time working and worrying … maybe too much … about the hairs on our head! We want our “coiffure” to be our “crown” because this is what we see in the mirror AND what others view. But unfortunately we sometimes compare our hair to others and often our image does not measure up to what we see on someone else’s head!

You know the old saying, ”The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”?

Well … the saying can easily apply to hair also! Curly heads want straight hair; thick hair heads want thin; blonds want to be redheads and brunettes want to be blonds! We spend hours deliberating the pros and cons of every hair style and color with ourselves, our friends, family, and even our hair stylist!

Author Lysa TerKeurst wrote an essay called “The Place Where Disappointment Grows” and stated that “the space between our expectations and our reality is a fertile field. And often it’s a place where disappointment grows.”

She cites Psalm 23:1: ”The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Paraphrasing her words: you might wish for a hairdo with straight long bangs, but your bangs are short and frizzy. You try so hard to duplicate the image in your head that you do not see the beautiful image in the mirror.

You try so hard to duplicate the image in your head that you do not see the beautiful image in the mirror.

And your “hairdo” might be a metaphor for other areas in your life that do not quite measure up …. work, family, relationships. You have expectations, but they are not reality. Hence … disappointment.

If the Lord is my shepherd, how will He bring my expectations closer to reality and lessen my “want”? We need to ask for His help and guidance and be willing to change. The Lord will give us opportunities to learn and grow so that our disappointments will lessen and our joy will increase.

God wants us to take pride in how we look and He understand that females have that desire. But God does not want us to obsess about it or compare ourselves negatively to another.

God wants us to think more about our inner beauty than our external appearance. He want us to invest more of our time and energy into developing godly qualities than on the way we look.

Writer Julia Bettencourt wrote: One thing about beauty [hair] that we all know as women is that caring for it is a daily ritual; we have to keep ourselves up. If we let ourselves go what happens? We’re not quite so beautiful anymore, are we?

It is the same with being beautiful in Christ. It must be a daily ritual. Ms. Bettencourt outlined a number of tips that we could use to help us improve our inner beauty. I’ve added the hair references!

Cleanser / Shampoo

In order to make ourselves beautiful, we have to first be cleansed of all unwanted impurities. Our cleansing agent works through our confession and God’s forgiveness.

Moisturizer / Conditioner

Having compassion can be a good moisturizer. When we start seeing others and their needs instead of our own it can really soften us up!

Wrinkle Cream / Comb

If we want to smooth out those wrinkles, how about applying a meek and quiet spirit?

Foundation / Hair Cut

We need to start with a good foundation, and what is better than the Word of God? If we have the Word of God in our hearts the rest of our spiritual make-up can be easily applied.

Eye Make-up / Highlights

To keep our eyes shining the brightest we need to guard them from seeing things that are not fitting for a beautiful woman in Christ.

Lipstick / Hydrate

To make the face complete don’t forget your lips. Water frequently with God’s Living Water! Apply lipstick / drink water in the shade of ‘Pleasantness’ daily for best results.

Blush / Hair Spray

The blush or hair spray we apply over us should be God’s love radiating through us.

Hand Lotion / Scalp Massage

We don’t want our hands to become dry and brittle so we need to apply some generosity and good deeds.

Foot Therapy / Exercise

Sometimes when we overlook our feet they can get callused and rough so we need to get them going in the right direction. Take your feet only to the places that Christ would approve.

A Bible verse that sums up these beauty tips is 1 Peter 3: 3-5: Your adornment must not be merely external–braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

Every time you look in the mirror and struggle to control those wispy tendrils or frizzy curls, or need encouragement to face a disappointment or problem in our life, remember that the Lord created you; He numbered the very hairs on your head! The Lord gave us beauty in all manner of different ways in order to face each day knowing that we are loved, one-of-a kind, and beautiful in His eyes.

This devotion was shared with Living Water’s Women’s Ministry “Sweet Monday” Program on April 20, 2015. Sweet Monday will meet again on Monday, May 18 at 7 -8:30 p.m. at Peaberry Bean & Beats 152 Barker Road, Whitmore Lake. Sweet Cecelia Knox  will share with us “The Potter’s Hands”.