The Haircut

My older daughter has gorgeous thick blond hair.  In the past, we have always kept it rather short.  A cute bob.  It made it easier to manage and comb and always looked adorable on her.  But, recently, she had requested that she grow it longer.  So we avoided getting it cut for several months.  Lately, though, it had gotten to a point where she really needed it worked on a bit.  I explained to her that we needed to go in for a cut but we would still keep it long. 

So we headed off to our local hair salon and I explained to the kind-faced woman what we wanted.  She was very cooperative and attentive when we talked it over.  She even pulled out her comb and showed me how much she'd be taking off.  When there seemed to be an understanding, I nodded, smiled and gave her the space to do her thing.

Ten minutes into her cut, I looked over and heard the hairdresser say to my younger daughter, who recently had her hair cut above her shoulders, "You're gonna look like twins now."

I could feel my heart tighten.  Twins?

"Wait," I said to her as I looked down at my daughter in the chair.  "They shouldn't look like twins."

But, the damage was done.  The 3 inches I requested somehow turned into about 6! 

"I thought she understood!"  I said to myself. 

My heart began to break for my daughter.  I had promised her over and over that she would be able to keep her long hair.  But as I watched her face in the mirror, I could tell her heart had sunk, too.

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There is nothing more frustrating than to communicate your vision to someone, give them the instructions on what you want to see happen, and then see something completely different from that vision come about. 

I knew what I wanted for my daughter. I explained it clearly. But the hairdresser somewhere along the way lost sight of my vision and let her own take over. 

And here's the thing. It's not that my daughter's hair didn't look good. She has always looked good in shorter hair. It was a beautiful cut. It just wasn't what I had asked for. It was very hard to get excited about something that looked good when I felt my vision had been ignored and not carried out.

It's easier for me to see now why God says to His people, "To obey is better than sacrifice."  To listen to what He wants to see carried out and then actually carry out that exact Vision is better than trying to make something 'beautiful' with our vision and all the while completely ignore His instructions.

What has God told you to do? Has He given you a Vision? Has He made it clear what He wants to see happen? If so, are you respecting His instructions enough that you are obeying them? Or, have you lost sight of what He has said and are now being carried along by your own ideas and vision?

At the end of the day, it's not going to be how beautiful you made the 'haircut'.  It's going to be: Did you do what He asked you to do?

But listen... with that being said, it's important to remember that if God has given you a Vision, He will be the One to help make it happen. I know for me, I can get nervous that I will somehow miss His Vision and accidently go my own way on things. We can be reassured that if we are staying close to Him, seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness, everything else will fall into place. If we continue to get with Him, spend time with Him, get His Heart on things and yield to this Spirit, He promises that we will bear much fruit. We won't miss it because we have given Jesus the wheel - or in this case, the scissors.