This past Saturday was a busy one.
For some reason, I chose to laze around all summer long and now that I’m headed back to college, life is speeding by at warp speed.
I have nothing ready and I don’t even care.
Is that bad?
I feel like that’s bad.
And again, I don’t care.
Last summer everything was organized and each box was labeled two different ways with the exact items inside. Rooms and I had the floor plan figured out, matching bedspreads, the whole sha-bang (is that how it’s spelled? let’s go with that.).
This year? We figured out the floor plan…sort of. We have bedspreads that coordinate colors. I have two big piles in my room of stuff that needs to go. I’ve yet to pack a single thing in my car. In fact, I haven’t even packed my clothes into boxes.
Which is problematic because I leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn.
Ooops?
Somehow I just put everything off until the last minute, including a billion errands I need to run today. But that’s okay because as long as everything gets in my car, it’ll all be fine. I’m so much more relaxed about it this year and I think that’s good.
But back to Saturday. I was busy with my To-Do list for getting ready for school, but I’m desperate to make money since I couldn’t get a job this summer, so I agreed to babysit for some family friends. M and K again, in case you remember. :) But I also wanted to catch up with a friend of mine that I haven’t been able to really spend time with since I went to school last year. She graduated high school a year early and spent much of her senior year working in India instead and OF COURSE I wanted to hear all about that, since going to India is one of my dreams.
To be honest, I didn’t know where to fit the time in. Did I want to catch up with her or check 3 things off my list? I couldn’t do both, but one of the many things I’ve definitely learned this past year is that the most important thing in my life are people.
At the end of the day, the best thing I can do is invest in and love people. The To-Do list can wait, people can’t.
So I made plans to spend an hour catching up with her right before babysitting. I had been running around all morning doing things here and there, but all the while I kept trying to figure out what to wear. I wanted to look cute, but still be comfy enough to babysit for a few hours.
4:00 came and it was time to walk out the door. I opened the door of my room to leave and then quickly walked back in, realizing I hadn’t brushed my hair since running around all day. I looked in the mirror and it hit me:
Why does it matter?
I’ve known this friend for years. She’s seen me sweaty and disgusting, having not showered for days in the Panama jungle. She couldn’t care less if my hair looks good or not.
But I did.
It wasn’t shame that I felt…it was conviction.
I immediately thought of 1 Peter 3:3-4
“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
It’s not that being beautiful is bad – definitely not. Is braiding your hair a sin? I sure don’t think so.
But if I’m more focused on my physical appearance than I am on my attitude, my heart, and spending time with God? Well, then I have a problem.
I felt convicted because I was more concerned about how my hair looked and what I was wearing than about spending time talking to God that day. I had so much to do and cared so much about getting it all done – while looking good on the outside – that I wasn’t spending much time looking good on the inside.
And of course when I got in the car and turned the radio on, what song was playing?
Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson (such a good one, by the way).
The humor and irony of God gets me every time. Let me just tell you, I turned that song up and sang at the top of my lungs.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting anybody cover up all the mirrors in their house and just go about their life not caring what they look like (although lets be honest, covering up the mirrors for a day or two might be a good reality check of how often we look at ourselves…). However, I do think we (I) need to spend less time in the mirror and more time in Gods Word.
When I look in the mirror, I want it to be a reflection of my heart. I want to see joy in my eyes and a smile on my face, not a good hair day.
And as luck (or the irony of God :]) would have it, the sky decided to rain on me and my recently brushed hair and thought-out outfit.
He’s a funny one, isn’t He? :)
