I inherited my hair from my Grandma Ayers. As a teenager I hated it. The style then was long, sleek and straight. Some girls even ironed their hair to remove any hint of natural wave. I never went that far, but twice a week I spent 2 hours washing it, wrapping it around huge rollers, and sitting under a bonnet dryer trying to get the kink out of it.
The biggest problem with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do. I have never been able to take a picture to a stylist and say, “I want my hair to look like that.” If it doesn’t already do that, it never will.
The biggest blessing with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do. I can shower, wash my hair, blow it dry, dress and go in about 35 minutes. There is no sense wasting time on hair that will only do one thing on any given day, depending upon the humidity.
Humidity is the bane of naturally curly hair. I can walk outside on a foggy day and hear it going, “Scrinch! Scrinch! Scrinch!” as each wave turns into a fuzzy ringlet. As a friend once said, I wear a barometer on my head. If I have to go to town on a high humidity day (most days in Florida), I stay away from mirrors. If I were to see what had become of my hair since I left the house I would probably still be in hiding and never make it back home.
During last summer’s nomadic tropical storm, an unwelcome guest we thought would never leave, I stepped outside one morning onto the carport to check on the dogs. About a half hour later I looked in the bathroom mirror. My head was covered with corkscrews the size of earthworms dropping onto my forehead, crawling into my ears, and dangling down my neck. The bad part, though, the thing that no one ever understands no matter how many times I try to explain it, was the frizz. A halo of gray fuzz stuck out all around the curls a full two inches, like that annoying fuzz around a mohair sweater. This was by far the most extreme “do” my naturally curly hair had ever given me. My head looked bigger than a basketball, and nothing I did could change it.
Most of the time now, I count my hair a blessing, but after all these years of dealing with hair that predetermines how I will look on any given day, I have a special appreciation for the free will God has given us. What I do is my choice not something forced upon me. It doesn’t matter who my ancestors were, how I was raised or where, I can still choose to serve God. God reminded his people in Josh 24:2, Long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. Abraham’s ancestors were idolaters, and he grew up in an idolatrous society, but God still expected his service and devotion. His upbringing and culture were not valid excuses for a lack of faith.
Free will also places a huge responsibility on me in my every day life. It doesn’t matter how anyone else treats me, I must treat them in the right manner. It doesn’t matter if someone aggravates me, I must not be provoked. It doesn’t matter if everything goes wrong today, I must still keep a good attitude and behave like a follower of Christ—a Christian. I now have no excuse for the sin in my life because God gave me the ability to choose otherwise. I cannot blame anything or anyone else.
The thing to do then is decide what I want. A loving Father went to a lot of trouble to make salvation available. A loving Son went through a lot of pain to make it possible to overcome sin. A comforting Spirit went to a lot of work to reveal it all. Now it is up to us—it is our choice one way or the other.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil, 2 Cor 5:10.
Dene Ward
The biggest problem with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do. I have never been able to take a picture to a stylist and say, “I want my hair to look like that.” If it doesn’t already do that, it never will.
The biggest blessing with naturally curly hair is that it does what it wants to do. I can shower, wash my hair, blow it dry, dress and go in about 35 minutes. There is no sense wasting time on hair that will only do one thing on any given day, depending upon the humidity.
Humidity is the bane of naturally curly hair. I can walk outside on a foggy day and hear it going, “Scrinch! Scrinch! Scrinch!” as each wave turns into a fuzzy ringlet. As a friend once said, I wear a barometer on my head. If I have to go to town on a high humidity day (most days in Florida), I stay away from mirrors. If I were to see what had become of my hair since I left the house I would probably still be in hiding and never make it back home.
During last summer’s nomadic tropical storm, an unwelcome guest we thought would never leave, I stepped outside one morning onto the carport to check on the dogs. About a half hour later I looked in the bathroom mirror. My head was covered with corkscrews the size of earthworms dropping onto my forehead, crawling into my ears, and dangling down my neck. The bad part, though, the thing that no one ever understands no matter how many times I try to explain it, was the frizz. A halo of gray fuzz stuck out all around the curls a full two inches, like that annoying fuzz around a mohair sweater. This was by far the most extreme “do” my naturally curly hair had ever given me. My head looked bigger than a basketball, and nothing I did could change it.
Most of the time now, I count my hair a blessing, but after all these years of dealing with hair that predetermines how I will look on any given day, I have a special appreciation for the free will God has given us. What I do is my choice not something forced upon me. It doesn’t matter who my ancestors were, how I was raised or where, I can still choose to serve God. God reminded his people in Josh 24:2, Long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. Abraham’s ancestors were idolaters, and he grew up in an idolatrous society, but God still expected his service and devotion. His upbringing and culture were not valid excuses for a lack of faith.
Free will also places a huge responsibility on me in my every day life. It doesn’t matter how anyone else treats me, I must treat them in the right manner. It doesn’t matter if someone aggravates me, I must not be provoked. It doesn’t matter if everything goes wrong today, I must still keep a good attitude and behave like a follower of Christ—a Christian. I now have no excuse for the sin in my life because God gave me the ability to choose otherwise. I cannot blame anything or anyone else.
The thing to do then is decide what I want. A loving Father went to a lot of trouble to make salvation available. A loving Son went through a lot of pain to make it possible to overcome sin. A comforting Spirit went to a lot of work to reveal it all. Now it is up to us—it is our choice one way or the other.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil, 2 Cor 5:10.
Dene Ward
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