Straight Hair

If we shaved Asherel's head, we would have enough hair to cover 3 normal girls and maybe a small pony. The reason I know this is that I spent an hour straightening her corkscrew shoulder length curls. She has an agility dog trial for the next two days, and the more she runs, the more her thick hair curls and puffs. By the end of a typical agility day, she has hair so voluminous and broad in its range that it sometimes trips the dogs in the adjacent ring. She also has a strong, and inexplicable aversion to barrettes, headbands, pony tails, braids, bobby pins, or any other hair restraining device known to human kind. So she requested I straighten her hair, and she hoped it would stay that way for the next two days. She claims straight hair is "not so annoying."

She fortified herself with a cup of goldfish crackers at her side, and on the table in front of her, the art contest work she is laboring night and day to complete before the deadline. I came armed with a huge round brush, several hair clips, a large high power curling iron, and smooth silky hair serum. Her hair is so recalcitrantly curly that I have to go through it not once, but three times with the curling iron, or those persistent kinks still broing out of control.

Since she had specifically requested I do this, I did not get the typical complaining, eye rolling, and "when will we be done" mantra repeated till my eardrums were permanently distorted by the sound waves of that phrase. Additionally, I knew that I was amassing enough good works in her eyes that I would be able to have her pose for a photograph when I was done. I did get some eye rolls when I told her it was time for her photo, but she ultimately acquiesced and smiled. When I finally finished, her hair was smooth and silky and luxuriously thick. I love her curly hair, but she did look gorgeous with her sleek and shiny straight locks.

And as she disappeared and I put away the curling iron, the large round brush, the hairdryer, the four hair clips, the shiny styling serum, and the cracker box, I wondered why curly haired people always want straight hair, and straight haired people always want curls. Are we all doomed forever to wanting what we cannot have, and then struggling to fit in places we were never meant to be? If one word only could be used to describe the human race, I think it would have to be: dissatisfaction.  I know this for a fact. When I was young, my hair was straight. I wanted curls. When it was short, I wanted it long. When I hit adolescence, it became curly. I wanted it straight. I grew it long and I wanted it short. When I had bangs, I wanted sideswept chin scraping hair instead. When I had sideswept chin scraping hair, I wanted bangs.

I cannot think of a single time in the Bible when Jesus reported being unhappy with His hair, or His looks, or His circumstances. Even when confronted with the Cross, He only said, "If it be your will, take this cup from me." This is an exceedingly mild request to His Father, and honestly, doesn't hold a candle to the circumstances I typically complain about. If anyone had a reason to complain, He did. But He didn't. Do you know that the word "uncomplaining" doesn't occur at all in the Bible, but complaining or grumbling at least 75 times? This ought to tell us something, and frankly, makes me a little ashamed.

There is a secret to contentment. I am certain of it. I am equally certain, I am not going to find it looking in the mirror, straightening the misplaced hairs.

Exodus 16:6-8

 ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”

Job 36:11
¹¹ If they obey and serve him,
   they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
   and their years in contentment.