313- Curls as promised

I know this is terribly late... I worked a couple very late nights falling asleep working at around 2 am.  Then... exhausted and now with my man!

Curls....  back on Wed. I had decided to get up and try to get put together so I could feel together, feel professional.  It wasn't until later in the day when I realized I don't feel that way unless I have straightened my hair.  Why is that?  I spent some time pondering it.  Why do I feel better about myself with straightened hair vs curly hair?  After much reflection it came down to desiring to be like, desiring to be similar to others. 

This summer one of the students on my team has curly hair and yet much of the summer she would also straighten her hair... or at least on the days she was trying to look good.  A couple times she let it be curly and I thought it was so cute, so beautiful.  When I said something to her she brushed it off and made some comment about not wanting to put the time into really doing her hair. As if because it is easy - it is less!

I really believe we often find what is not easy as more valuable, or in the case of hair more beautiful! We tend to admire in each other what we don't have.  We do the same in our careers, our homes, our talents, our hobbies and our looks.  I talk with the students, I work with, all the time about embracing their strengths, seeing the beauty in who they were created to be, to find their strengths and develop them.

Wed. as I realized that for me to feel "together" or "beautiful" I had to straighten my hair it made me pause and ask the question, "Is that (C) and/or am I not valuing the gifts God has given me?"  I came to the conclusion both are perhaps true and I also have never put time into figuring out how to wear my hair curly.  I do like to feel put together and when it is curly it is usually wild.  So I plan on putting some time into trying new ways to embrace my locks.

This is not just about my curls, it is about embracing who I am, who God created me to be and being the best without devaluing the uniqueness of me! It is easy when watching the Olympics, or being around people with magnificent gifts to wish I was more. To wish I could run like a gazelle, dance like someone with rhythm in their bones, to be organized like a professional organizer, or to sing like Becca Anderson! If I spend too much time wishing I was like... I'm not seeing what I am, or what I should be working on.

So living MtC includes embracing the Me and understanding accepting who he made me to be is honoring of Him!  He must be so sad when He sees us yearning to be more like others when He gave us so much that we ignore or don't value. I am still going to straighten my hair, I just plan on finding ways to also love my curls!