Many years ago I was given one of those head massagers…fine wires with plastic tips attached to a handle. As you push the wires down over your scalp, the apparatus spreads and cups your head, then as you move it over your scalp it massages the scalp and gives the tingles. I loved it. I’ve always loved having my hair played with & combed. It is one of life’s great pleasures and I think most women, based on the time and money spent at the hairdressers would agree.
Most would be familiar with the song Big Yellow Taxi from years back. The line “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til its gone”, comes to mind here. As part of my cancer treatment, I had chemotherapy. After 2 rounds, as stated, my hair began to fall out..in clumps. I’d find it on my pillow; it clogged the shower drain; it tangled in my fingers when I tried to wash it. It was thin and matted and dull.
It was one of those defining moments when you are faced with the harsh reality of your situation. I had been to the clinic and seen the plight of many a woman there and that day I determined I would not go there, at least in my mind. I sat in the kitchen on a chair, draped a towel around my shoulders and handed my son scissors and shaver and said, “Cut it all off!” I wanted to feel I had at least some control over my current situation.
It was a humbling experience, to surrender my crowning glory to the kitchen floor. I stared at all my hair on the floor then looked at myself in the mirror and wept at this odd looking face staring back at me, red rimmed eyes and pale bald head. How did I end up here?
Proverbs 4:23 says “Out of the heart flows the issues of life.” Its sad that it takes some jolt…some trauma..to make us really look at ourselves and take stock…force us to realign our thinking…challenge our perspective on our attitudes, confront ourselves that all the issues, dramas, material possessions and things we thought important are “striving after the wind”Ecclesiastes 1:14.
It was such a simple thing but tonight when I walked into my wardrobe and found that $2 shop head massager and enjoyed the sensation of it combing through my hair, I found myself sobbing with gratitude to God for the gift of my hair. Such a simple yet profound thing and a reminder of all we take for granted and forget to thank our Heavenly Father for.
Matthew 10:30 “Indeed the very hairs of your head are numbered.”
That’s how intimately He knows and cares for you. Look around you…thank Him for the ordinary things in your day because everything you have is a gift!