Road Trip and Limp Hair

This summer, I loaded my suburban – my suburban with 220,000 miles on it – for a fifteen hour drive to Colorado.  At 10:30 in the morning, one of my daughters’ friends arrived at our house and added her bags to our pile before starting the actual loading process.  We stuffed the luggage carrier on top of the car first then fit the suitcases in the back like puzzle pieces. The four of us and two dogs backed out of the driveway on time. Woohoo! On time.

We drove across town, picked up another daughters’ friend and her bags. Off we went again. We drove five hours and then picked up another girl on the highway. Literally, on the highway. Her mother met us there with dinner, her daughter and more bags. Again, we carefully fit her bags into our suitcase puzzle and off we went.

For the next seven hours of driving, we played every car game we could think of -and we even made up a few. At 11:30 that night, we pulled into a tiny Texas panhandle town and found a hotel that allowed pets. We tried to be as quiet as possible as we tromped in with our bags and dogs. Everyone had an armload – bags, pillows, a cooler, and more bags. Our dogs were excited and as we hurried down the hall they got a few dogs barking that were already bedded down in other rooms. We hurried into our room before anyone knew it was us causing such a ruckus in the middle of the night.

It was another hour before the girls got showered and settled in for the night so when my alarm went off the next morning, I tried my best not to wake anyone. I didn’t turn the lights on or grab my glasses when I put the shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

After my shower, I turned on the coffee pot, opened the curtains and woke the girls.

As my youngest daughter was preparing to get into the shower she asked, “Where’s the conditioner?”

“In the shower,” I replied.

“Uh, Mom, that’s body lotion!”

The girls laughed hysterically. Me. Not so much. I had already dried my hair at that point. It didn’t look so bad and there wasn’t time to start over. Besides, maybe I had discovered a new hair product that would fix split ends. Maybe.

While the hairstyles in Texas are no longer represented by the Dallas “big hair,” a girl’s hair is still supposed to look like something other than “stringy” – as my mom used to say.  Or does she still say that?  Never mind. That’s a whole other story.

I started out the day feeling pretty good about my hair and was even thinking that conditioner was overrated.  But then the day wore on and my hair began to droop. When I say, “droop,” I mean it went limp. Flat to my head limp.

I started out with such great hope that my hair would hold its shape. Its spunk. Its style. Instead, my hair went limp.

Many of my days are like my hair. I start out my day feeling pretty good. Like all’s right with the world. Then, as the day wears on, I go limp. My attitude goes limp. My resolve goes limp. My feelings go limp. My patience goes limp. My plans go limp. My whole day goes limp. Limp.

The good thing about limp hair is that you can add…product. You can spray it and tease it and gel it and blow-dry it and…and you can even wash it – with conditioner – body building conditioner.

The good thing about limp attitudes or limp resolve or limp feelings or limp days is that our Heavenly Father is waiting to strengthen and restore us.  Matthew 10:30 states that “even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” He knows how many hair follicles are on your head  ~ and whether they are limp or not.

The Lord has the power to change our limp lives. Will you let Him?

James 4:10 ~ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

When we trust the Lord and rely on Him, He lifts us up. Lifts up our attitudes, our resolve, our outlook, our feelings.

It sure was easy for me to humble myself as I entered the conference with the world’s limpest hair! But you know what? As soon as I began to worship the Lord, all of my worries, fatigue and stress lifted.

And the next morning, I checked the bottle before I squeezed anything onto my head.