Barber Chair or Electric Chair?

I got a haircut yesterday, and while I was watching the stylist work her magic, I realized something:

No one is attractive when they get their hair cut. No one.

Except for this baby. It's cute. Source Unknown.

(side note: It seems like every time I get my hair cut, it's done by the one woman in the salon with bad hair. It's like the whole thing is inevitable. What is that about?) 

It starts when they tie that horrible thing around your neck. While it does keep everything from trickling down your neck, it automatically gives everyone a double chin and makes you feel like a fatty, regardless of your actual weight.

Then they give you the smock. The SMOCK! It adds so much to your bloblike appearance. I don't care how "fashionable" or "cute" they try to make those smocky things, it ain't fooling us. NO.

A haircut reduces even the most attractive person into a monster. For those of you who think you look good when you get your hair cut, I DON"T WANT TO HEAR IT. 

THEN they start in with their tools, and it is all downhill from there.. Awful. They spray your hair so it's somewhat wet and starts getting all frizzy. Rip the comb through it so much that it starts to stand on end like there's lightning in the air. They secure parts of it up haphazardly in alligator clips like a four-year old who's finally allowed do do her own hair for the first time. 

They start to cut, and it's a full-blown panic attack. I TOLD YOU I ONLY WANTED A TRIM, YOU NINCOMPOOP! My entire ponytail is in my lap! 

Anyway. The whole process, you are a disastrous mess. Hair is everywhere. You are not attractive in any way, shape, or form. No understanding or interpretation of that word applies to you while you sit in the chair. You look around at the other people getting their hair cut, and they don't look half as much a disaster as you do. You want to melt away or climb deep into that unforgiving smock and never come out. 

{And you wonder why I only get my hairs cut like every eight months?}

Still, time after time, they end up okay. The process is a mess and ugly and messy and embarrassing, but when the final product is revealed, it's like Ta DAAAAAAAA! Oh that's right, I forgot you went to school for this and kind of know what you're doing. My bad. We can't see the "after" picture while we're getting our hair cut; we get so fixated on the process, bogged down in the details. After all of that, your hair is healthy again, you feel new and beautiful, and you forget all of the trauma in the chair. 

Why are we like that? 

The Lord is like that hairdresser. He sees us get freaked out at the process he's taking us through as we learn and grow, but he doesn't stop because he knows how amazing and complete the final product is going to be. We are constantly works in progress, and we get caught up in that process. We don't want anyone to look at us because we're embarrassed of the state in which we are caught in the moment; afraid of letting anyone see us when we don't have our deal together. Everyone else seems to have it together a lot better than we do. Time and time again, we prove the adage that comparison is the thief of joy.

Why can't we learn to trust God? He certainly knows what He's doing; he's got a lot more going for Him than cosmetology school. He's also got the benefit of being able to see the final product.

Just a little in-the-chair musings :)