A Humorous Reminder

“Pride precedes destruction; an arrogant spirit gives way to a nasty fall.”

Proverbs 16:18

I find that God has a wonderfully comical sense of humor. Seriously!

The longer I walk and do life with him, the more I get to see it displayed in the most hilarious of ways. One of my favorite ways to see him manifest his humor is when he is trying to remind me of truth that I may have forgotten, or when I just need a refresher course on certain days.

Several months back, as I was wrapping up an evening of Women’s Bible study, I had a conversation about my hair with a few women in the lobby of our church. Someone had commented that they liked my haircut and color and asked me about my stylist. I was very gracious, thanking her for her sweet compliments, and told her about the lady who cuts my hair. The conversation sounds harmless enough, right?

Not quite.

You see, the truth about me is that I’m kind of neurotic when it comes to my hair. When I keep it short, I can feel when one side is even a millimeter longer than the other and it drives me crazy! Then add in the fact that I don’t want to pay someone to color my hair when it’s short because it’s expensive and will be cut out in another 5 or 6 weeks anyway. Put those two things together and I become a bit of a mad scientist.

So, I proceed in our conversation to tell these women how I color my own hair, trim it when necessary, and even have my own thinning shears for when it feels too heavy. They were kind of surprised and said how amazing it was that I would take that kind of risk. Instead of replying truthfully about the fact that this is an incredibly stupid thing for me to do, I puffed up a bit. “Oh, it’s easy!” I said. “Besides, if I fry it when I color it or trim it unevenly, it’s no big deal. It’s short, it’ll grow back quick.”

I didn’t give the conversation another thought as I drove home, but God had witnessed my arrogance and was not pleased.

The next morning as I got ready for work, I noticed that my hair felt really heavy in the front. My thoughts went to the previous night’s conversation. “No problem, I’ll fix this right up!” I thought as I reached for the drawer below my bathroom sink. I opened it and there sat my regular scissors and the thinning shears. Once I had a visual, I left the drawer open as I grasped my front bangs, which hung down to my chin.

Now, for reasons unknown to me, I stopped and decided not to start there. Instead, I let go of my bangs and grabbed a chunk of hair off to the side, just above my ears. I then reached into the drawer, grabbed the shears, put them in my hair, and cut.

Immediately – terror.

I knew by the sound of the cut that these were not thinning shears in my hand. As I pulled my hands away from my head, I saw regular scissors in one hand and three inches of hair cut right off in the other.

“NOOOOO!”

Thankfully the spot of destruction was one I could cover up until it grew back. But my first thought right after it happened was Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before a fall.” God had in a very real, but comical way sent me a message. “Steph, don’t get cocky, even with something simple like hair.”

I know it may seem silly, but God uses all of life to speak to us. I would much rather be reminded of his truths in a comical way like this, than in a situation where the stakes are much higher or the consequences greater.

He didn’t make me cut my hair off. No, that was my own fault. But in the mysterious way that only he can do, he used the situation as a teaching tool.

I love that my Savior has such a great sense of humor!

For Your Reflection…

Sometimes God just wants us to laugh with him. When have you witnessed God’s sense of humor to teach or reveal something to you?