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A few weeks ago, my girls asked me to roll their hair in rag curlers. Rag curlers don’t produce nice little waves – they create tight ringlets. Frizz galore! It really is cute, but it makes me glad I don’t have to deal with it every day.
It reminds me of walking into school one day in 7th grade with my own frizzy head. My hair is typically pretty straight. There is some body to it, but it is frequently just enough to cause a problem if I don’t make sure to deal with my hair properly. But on this particular day, my hair was anything but straight. I had a head full of tight curls. I loved it! And all my friends were convinced I had a perm.
Granted, it was the ’80’s. Perms and big bangs were the way to go! So, it was perfectly naturally for everyone to assume that I had gone with the perm. But, the crazy thing was that they didn’t believe me when I told them there was no perm. They argued with me. I insisted that I had not done anything permanent to my hair and that the curls would wash out next time I showered. They still did not believe me! I remember being flabbergasted that they didn’t believe me – and I wondered why it even mattered. I explained to them what that I used foam curlers about six inches long and a half inch in diameter. I rolled my wet hair around them the night before, folded the ends over to secure the hair, and then slept with them. When I took them out the next morning, voila! Curly hair. But, even after the explanation, several of my friends did not believe me until I came back with straight hair a day or two later. Even then, some of them were convinced that I’d just straightened it.
It still seems bizarre to think of such a big deal being made of something as insignificant as curly hair. But, as I chew on those memories, a thought stands out to me. It wasn’t really about the hair. Something deeper played a part in this scene – an underlying attitude of disbelief.
It is quite interesting to me the things we humans will believe as opposed to what we will not believe. We will embrace some of the most bizarre arguments while disregarding some of the most foundational truths. It is a blindness we inherit. A blindness to truth that results in a blind acceptance of bizarre and even a preference to believe what is false rather than simply accept truth. Only sin can accomplish that.
The truth of God’s Word is right before us if we will receive it. Yet, in many aspects of our lives even those of us who are growing Christians daily reject some aspect of His truth. He is continually feeding it to us, hungering to grow us. But sometimes we are as stubborn as my friends were, insisting that we know the truth and it’s not what God claims.
It might be something as simple as fretting about not being able to find our lost car keys instead of praying because the truth is that God knows exactly where they are. It might be something much more complex.
May we pray for open eyes. May we hunger to see truth, but may we also be willing to surrender our preconceptions that God may open our hearts to truth. May we passionately desire an attitude of belief.
Not Quite Ordinary 