Tip of My Iceberg

Photo courtesy of Farhad Jafarzadeh on Unsplash

I know they look awkward right now, but you have to go through some pretty bad to get to the better.

I’m talking about my bangs.

I’ve had bangs for the majority of my life. As a child, my mother wasn’t fond of cutting my bangs, so she would cut them very short so she wouldn’t have to do it so often. The short bangs made me feel like a clown. I walked around with my eyebrows raised, making my forehead width less dramatic.

But now, I’m tired of trying to trim the fringe. So the slow in-between begins.

These liminal spaces often are frustrating–not what was, not what is to come. Sometimes it’s easier to give up and cut the bangs than to try to change my hairstyle. But that’s like beginning all over again.

Do you just not try?

Growth is like that in so many ways, because learning is a growth process. Watching a child learn to walk: they fall continually, and first-time parents can become a little panicky, fearing they’ll hurt themselves on a sharp corner or a tile floor. Or a teen learning to drive a car. As a parent, the fear of hitting another car, not stopping in time, or the agony of a child going so slow that every other car on the road is honking at you is very real

Accidents will happen. Children will fall. Teens will run into other cars. But it doesn’t mean we give up trying to learn. Trying to be better. Growth happens through the hard challenges, not because we can avoid them.

Saul understood this only too well. He was a Pharisee, a religious leader who was well-versed in the 613 laws of the Jews that were required for holiness. He’d been raised as a Roman citizen, so he was also quite entitled as a man of respect in an empire that valued citizenship.

Saul had a problem with those who followed Jesus, the One who had been crucified, and His followers claimed He rose from the dead, offering grace and forgiveness to all who would believe in Him. Saul helped imprison these followers of the Way, seeking the death penalty for many of them.

“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?’” Acts 9:7-8.

When Saul asked who He was, Jesus identified Himself and told Saul to go to a certain man who would help him; Saul had no options but to go. He had been blinded by the light.

Ananias, a follower of Jesus, had been told by the Lord that he was to heal Saul, which he did hesitantly because he knew what Saul’s intentions were. Once healed, Saul, who became Paul, became a follower of Jesus because he had encountered the risen Christ, and it changed him forever.

Paul’s change and growth were quick; people’s acceptance of him wasn’t. People had feared him because they knew he was a Pharisee and didn’t believe in Jesus. They couldn’t understand what appeared to be his vacillation. So several Jews plotted to kill him. The few who believed him helped him get out of town.

Paul’s change was a life change; he went from being a persecutor of followers of Christ to a follower himself. Many didn’t accept it. He had a small community of friends who believed him. They accepted him when others wouldn’t.

When we make changes in our lives, some people who know us may not appreciate our shift. Such changes may not come easily. At times, it may feel easier to not try.

But change is good. Especially if it helps us grow as people of responsibility and character.

My bangs aren’t a big change; they’re just frustratingly slow to grow out.

Life change? Like Paul?

It’s worth working on and waiting for.