A Simple Word & Locks of Love

I sat beside my husband on a soft blanket in the park.  The flames of a bonfire danced and flickered before our eyes as they warmed us.  We had come here with some friends from church to barbecue, roast marshmallows, and just spend time together.  It was heavenly, leaning against my hubby with his arms around me.  I thought of how far God had brought me in the last four years.  How had I found such a faithful, loving husband?  Only by God's grace!  

"My angel has such beautiful hair," he whispered to me.

You should give your hair to Locks of Love.

I heard about Locks of Love on a talk show once.  It much have been over a year ago then.  They were a hair donation service.  They made wigs for children and teenagers with diseases like cancer and alopecia areata.  The program had touched my heart as it would have touched any other woman's but I hadn't thought of it since.  Why now?  The thought came to me again:

You should give your hair to Locks of Love.

I looked into the fire.  Did God want me to cut my hair and give it to a child?  But my hubby loved my hair, and it had taken me so long to grow, and besides that, I loved my hair!   Whoa... was I still so prideful of my appearance as all that?  And how was I supposed to know if it was really something God wanted me to do?  I remembered something one of the preachers at church had said recently, "If you think God is trying to tell you something, you should always test it against scripture.  God's word is always the final authority."  Before I could finish asking myself if there was possibly a scripture that would agree with giving my hair to Locks of Love, I thought:

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

It was so simple, but it was God's word.  I knew then it was something I could do.  I realized how vain I had been about my hair, especially how much I loved those compliments from strangers... but wouldn't a little girl who didn't have any hair love it even more?  Wouldn't I hope someone would do the same for me?

A few weeks later, I sat in a chair at a beauty salon downtown.  My hair had been long and beautiful for as long as I could remember.  I wondered what my reaction would be when my curls all tumbled to the floor.  Would I cry?  The woman behind me measured my hair and then began to cut.  My curls didn't fall to the floor, but the beautician held my hair gently as she separated it by the sheers. She tied it all together and wrapped it in a towel.  I glanced at my face in the mirror.  I wasn't crying.  I actually couldn't help smiling.  Perhaps God had asked me to do this as much for myself as for someone else.

[Jesus] said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it."  Luke 11:28

Lord, Help me to obey you and trust you even when I don't exactly agree with what I think you're doing in my life.  Remind me that you love me and that your plans are always perfect from me, whether it's something as silly as cutting my hair or as serious as fighting depression.  In Jesus matchless name, Amen.