Lessons From the Barber's Chair

This morning I was getting my hair cut and it dawned on me. I have trust issues. There I was in the chair wringing my hands, my whole body tensed up and second guessing every move this professional hair dresser made. In a split second, I realized the ridiculousness of my nerves. Maria, the woman cutting my hair this morning, was clearly capable. She was well trained. No doubt she had cut the hair of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Of the two of us, she was obviously better suited to know what approaches and techniques were appropriate to cut my mop. With this in mind, I felt like I had a decision before me. Would I continue to experience the internal turmoil of second guessing what she was doing, or would I entrust my hair to her care and sit back and relax?

I wonder if we often apply this type of nervousness and lack of trust to life in other ways. How often to do we find ourselves wringing our hands, physically consumed with worry and trying to figure our way through a situation that is beyond us? When we do this, we are ignoring the reality that we can have at our disposal the resources of Heaven to help guide us and empower where ever life takes us. 

But trust can be a tough thing to do. It means that we are saying that we do not have the wisdom or the resources that we need. It is a cry for help. It is an easier thing to talk about than it is to do. For me, I like to be in control. I like to know what is going to happen next. To trust God is humbling, it means recognizing that God is better qualified that I am to give direction to my life and that I am open to God reshaping my hopes and dreams. This can be scary. 

Scripture calls us to pause and realize that God is worthy of our trust ((Ps. 46:10) and invites us to lean on his ways instead of our own wisdom (Prov. 3:5-6). Indeed we would be wise to realize that the Lord's wisdom is beyond us (Is. 55:8-9) and that this is a good thing as our own wisdom can often be found to be lacking.

And so I think that the same decision is before us each and every day as was before me as I was sitting in that barber's chair this morning. Are we going to continue with the turmoil of trying to figure things out on our own, or are we going to place our trust in the One who is more than capable of caring for us and allow him to lead and guide us? As scary as trust can be, when we place our trust in the right places, the results can be amazing. 

PS I think that my haircut looks pretty good!