Welcome to Trace’s Space. “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is found on the path of righteousness.”
Proverbs 16:31
Today when I was leaving church, I engaged in a conversation about hair. One of the ladies I was speaking with use to do hair and always compliments my hair, especially it’s color. Now I am fully aware that she knows how much process is involved in coloring my hair, and I am grateful for my girl Denise who does an awesome job. If it were not for her skill, I would be totally salt and pepper gray.
Honestly I am not trying to hide my age, but I am a little vain when it comes to my hair, and can not fully commit to the aging process that will eventually force me to face the hair color I am destined to have.
So in this conversation I start talking about my mother. She was blessed with the genetics of graying young. As was her brother Joe. I have no recollection of Joe with any hair color but gray, except for a Grecian formula mishap, that shade of red, not natural, really funny. Never the less my moms hair was salt and pepper gray most of her life. She would have product put on it to brighten in up, once got blonde highlights ( really strange) but she embraced her crown of glory!
As a child I would play in her hair, I can still remember what it felt like to run my fingers through it. The smell of Prell shampoo. She would put her hair in rollers, and on special occasions roll ours too.
My mother was not flashy, that roll belonged to my grandmother, her mom! Grandma Mary was very much into her appearance, when we would go visit she had the best stuff... Rouge, lipstick and glitter nail polish. Oh I loved going there, and she colored her hair, wore flashy clothes, she and my mother, polar opposites. There is a story there, but not for today, just let me say, I believe my flamboyant grandmother was the reason my mom was on the lowdown with her appearance.
Mom was beautiful. She embraced who she was, and no facade was needed because the natural was spectacular.
My, oh my, I’m crying. Not my plan, but deep down that may be why I color my hair.
Mike always says I should let nature take its course, that the gray is beautiful and it won’t change who I am. But for me it seems to be a place of surrender. A season that I’m not fully ready to enter into.
I am not ready to take on the gray hair crown! Lol!
There will be crowns in heaven, the crown of Righteousness, the crown of Life, the crown of Glory, the Incorruptible crown and finally my favorite, the crown of Rejoicing. You can look these up for yourself and there is scripture that explains what they stand for, but wow... The crown of Rejoicing represents the scripture in Revelation where God takes away our pain, our tears... there will be no more of that on that great day. What a promise! That’s my crown I hope!
But what is really cool is we will after we receive our crowns have the honor of laying them at the feet of Jesus. One of my favorite songs is, “ We Bow Down and Lay Our Crowns At The Feet Of Jesus”. We will probably not say much, just Holy!
Today I am missing my mother, all because of a conversation about hair. I have spent a lot of years figuring out my mother because she’s not here to enlighten me, not that she would have done that. Totally not her personality. But as I get older, I see so much of her in me, my thought processes I believe align with hers, and the things I thought she would have thought as a young adult are way off.
She wore her life crown well. I hope someday, my children will think that of me.
And with that I say, see you next time.
P.s. Hair appointment this week, yep, color will be happening!
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Sunday, September 9, 2018
If That Door Slams In Your Face, There’s Your Sign!
Welcome to Trace’s Space. I was recently thinking about a girl I use to work with. This was a little over thirty years ago, and I really struggled with remembering her name until today. I was sitting in church and as our Pastor gave his message, the Lord was strongly encouraging me to write mine, and this particular story/message has to do with me having difficulty opening a door in a spiritually awkward moment. It would be years before I saw that moment for what it was, how interesting that God gave me opportunity and I blew it, but yet He never gave up pursuing me.
I worked at Denny’s. It was a wild time in my life, I loved to party, and I loved the folks I grew at that time to accept as friends. We were a truly wild bunch. Young and dumb were we, a whole lot of poor life decisions, yet a good time was had by all. In the midst of this crazy bunch of folks was a young college student named Robin. She was beautiful inside and out, she glowed with the love of Jesus and evangelized to we heathen as often as she could. I really was drawn to her, just really liked her. She never had a poor opinion of anyone, especially her coworkers.
So one morning as we were serving up our grand-slam specials she approached myself and two other girls who were working the breakfast shift. She explained that she had been attending revival services at a local hotel ballroom and felt like she was being lead to invite us to come. She went on to tell us the services were nightly at seven and she really wanted us to try and come. My one friend says quickly, “yes, we will be there tonight”... meanwhile I’m thinking, we made plans to go dancing, we are planning on drinking, I certainly don’t feel like going to a tent meeting, and well my other friend, she was merely red faced!
Don’t think poorly of us, we didn’t truly know any better, so we talked and decided, why not, we can go do this Jesus thing for a few and the bar is open till two, all will be well!
So we get all dolled up, and make our way to the Ramada. I’m sure dear sweet Robin was surprised that we actually showed up. We awkwardly found seats, very close to the door, and then, they started having church. I don’t recall there being any worship music, I’m sure there probably was. The Evangelists name was Charlotte, a very stern looking woman with very tight permed hair. When she spoke she was stern, and her delivery was very Pentecostal, her speech deliverance would remind you of Robin Williams doing his best Ernest Angley, she was scary, well to me anyway. I’m sure I was feeling conviction because I knew I was there only because my friends were my ride to the bar.
So Charlotte starts to talk about sin....of course.... sure...we all fall short....I could feel the uncomfortableness of my friends and finally I feel a tug and one of them says, let’s go.
So they went first, quietly they exited the room, one by one, I never heard the door, then I got up to go, and boom! bang, slam! The door won’t open! I’m trapped, I can’t get out! I could feel this woman glaring at me, finally she says, “just pull, it will open”!
That was it, that’s all she said. My friends on the other side were crying, they laughed for hours at me! I felt horrible.
God was then pursuing me, I just didn’t see it. Funny how thoughts of that evening would come back to me periodically for years. I wondered if I would have just stayed how different things would have been. Not that I regret a lot of things, there are some choices I have made outside of Gods will that caused me great heartache. See I believe He was trying to keep me there, but when that door slammed I was given the choice to keep trying to get out or just sit back down. I chose to go.
God won’t hold you hostage, this relationship that you develop with Him is totally up to you. Even though I went my merry way, He kept after me because He knew before I was formed in my mother’s womb that He had something special just for me.
I was actually changed by that moment, when I was ready the next door was easier to walk through, the difference being I wasn’t walking away, I was running in!
If you seek Him you will find Him, knock and He will answer, just know this, He is always pursuing His children, and no matter how far you have gone, He has the ultimate open door policy?
Today I pray for you, if you feel a door has been slammed in your face and that you are not welcomed as a true friend of God, I pray that you see that as a fib, I pray that you recognize that His door is easily opened, and that you just simply step on in!
See you next time!
I worked at Denny’s. It was a wild time in my life, I loved to party, and I loved the folks I grew at that time to accept as friends. We were a truly wild bunch. Young and dumb were we, a whole lot of poor life decisions, yet a good time was had by all. In the midst of this crazy bunch of folks was a young college student named Robin. She was beautiful inside and out, she glowed with the love of Jesus and evangelized to we heathen as often as she could. I really was drawn to her, just really liked her. She never had a poor opinion of anyone, especially her coworkers.
So one morning as we were serving up our grand-slam specials she approached myself and two other girls who were working the breakfast shift. She explained that she had been attending revival services at a local hotel ballroom and felt like she was being lead to invite us to come. She went on to tell us the services were nightly at seven and she really wanted us to try and come. My one friend says quickly, “yes, we will be there tonight”... meanwhile I’m thinking, we made plans to go dancing, we are planning on drinking, I certainly don’t feel like going to a tent meeting, and well my other friend, she was merely red faced!
Don’t think poorly of us, we didn’t truly know any better, so we talked and decided, why not, we can go do this Jesus thing for a few and the bar is open till two, all will be well!
So we get all dolled up, and make our way to the Ramada. I’m sure dear sweet Robin was surprised that we actually showed up. We awkwardly found seats, very close to the door, and then, they started having church. I don’t recall there being any worship music, I’m sure there probably was. The Evangelists name was Charlotte, a very stern looking woman with very tight permed hair. When she spoke she was stern, and her delivery was very Pentecostal, her speech deliverance would remind you of Robin Williams doing his best Ernest Angley, she was scary, well to me anyway. I’m sure I was feeling conviction because I knew I was there only because my friends were my ride to the bar.
So Charlotte starts to talk about sin....of course.... sure...we all fall short....I could feel the uncomfortableness of my friends and finally I feel a tug and one of them says, let’s go.
So they went first, quietly they exited the room, one by one, I never heard the door, then I got up to go, and boom! bang, slam! The door won’t open! I’m trapped, I can’t get out! I could feel this woman glaring at me, finally she says, “just pull, it will open”!
That was it, that’s all she said. My friends on the other side were crying, they laughed for hours at me! I felt horrible.
God was then pursuing me, I just didn’t see it. Funny how thoughts of that evening would come back to me periodically for years. I wondered if I would have just stayed how different things would have been. Not that I regret a lot of things, there are some choices I have made outside of Gods will that caused me great heartache. See I believe He was trying to keep me there, but when that door slammed I was given the choice to keep trying to get out or just sit back down. I chose to go.
God won’t hold you hostage, this relationship that you develop with Him is totally up to you. Even though I went my merry way, He kept after me because He knew before I was formed in my mother’s womb that He had something special just for me.
I was actually changed by that moment, when I was ready the next door was easier to walk through, the difference being I wasn’t walking away, I was running in!
If you seek Him you will find Him, knock and He will answer, just know this, He is always pursuing His children, and no matter how far you have gone, He has the ultimate open door policy?
Today I pray for you, if you feel a door has been slammed in your face and that you are not welcomed as a true friend of God, I pray that you see that as a fib, I pray that you recognize that His door is easily opened, and that you just simply step on in!
See you next time!
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