Yesterday was a day that been attempted many times before. My 3 year old has REALLY needed a haircut for about 3 weeks but each time we talk about it has refused with a polite "no thank you." As you can image the thought of holding him down in a chair while I, a non-experienced hair stylist tried to cut his hair, was something I wanted to do about as much as I wanted to shave my own head.
However, we were getting to the point where he daily looked like Animal from the Muppets. It was time. So I took my brave little self and my strong-willed little Bryce and off to Great Clips we went. I was not looking for Gene Juarez, just someone who could help Bryce look like a well-kept little boy instead of his current status of out of control un-kept, un-groomed child. The first stylist we encountered cared about as much of what I was looking for as the common stranger off the street. "We do this all the time, I can cut his hair" go for it was my response. The blood curdling screams accompanied with the stiff board appearance of my son said otherwise. She definitely did not do "this" all the time. After it was clear his domineer was not going to change I decided on plan B. So off we went. We walked up to the grocery store where we the first item up for grabs was jelly beans. "Mom I want these!" "Okay Bryce you can have those if you get your hair cut." "Um, no thank you" and back to the shelf went the jelly beans. Next item up for grabs a LARGE M&M cookie! "Bryce would like one of these?" "Yes!" "You can have it if you get your haircut." "Oh, no thank you." Final item up for grabs a chocolate bunny. "Mom I want this!" "Oh that looks really good! You can have it if you get your hair cut." "No thank you." Realizing I was not winning this I graciously put the bunny in the basket and finished my shopping. When I was finished we headed to the counter where I then said "Okay Bryce we are now going to get a hair-cut." "No thank you, I am going home." "Okay Bryce we can go home. And when we get there I am going to shave your head. I will cut all your hair off and you will have no more hair on your head. Or we can let the lady cut it nicely with her scissors and then you can have the chocolate bunny. So who is going to cut your hair Bryce mommy, or the lady?"
With a glare he stared my down and at the end of the stare down he said with a smile "The Lady!" I had finally gotten to the root of his common sense. It was not a control factor with Bryce but rather a fear factor. He had to clearly understand the consequence to understand what he would loose or gain. Once he chose to gain he did something that was scary to him with a happy and brave heart.
A story all too familiar when adapted to our spiritual walk. Many times I have seen God wanting to change me and although I may not realize it, I am refusing to get my hair cut. The Lord may be trying to trim something off of my life that I feel attached to. I may not realize the effect that it is truly having on my life and if I did it would be a small painless trim that requires a little bit of bravery on my part. But in fear I say "no thank you" and move along. Those little trims turn in to a need for a complete make-over before I know it. When our spiritual growth goes un-kept and sin or the unhealthy habits and behaviors are aloud to continue, it will soon cover our face to the point we can't see it. I wonder if God would be clear and direct each time if we would stop saying "no thank you" and start saying "yes please!" Even polite disobedience is still disobedience. If we understood that each trim was just maintenance and progression that ultimately would improve us each day with very little adjustment, vs. a complete uprooting and "shaving" of the problem. Remember we serve a God who has given us free will. Our unwillingness to receive the trims of life are our choice not His. He will complete the plan for each of us despite our efforts to avoid the trim, it is just whether or not we are going to trust him and be brave, or wether we are going to ignore it until it over comes our life to the point that God has no chioce but to allow us to be shaved by the world becoming the very thing we were trying to aviod. So who is cutting your hair? Is it going to be the Lord, or the World?
