But that wasn’t always the case. If you would have asked me what my favorite thing about me was four years ago, the last thing that I would have said was my hair. I had spent my entire life actively fighting against my curl pattern. I’ve used heat, steam, hair products and sometimes even dangerous chemicals. It’s as if I was at war with myself, my hair being my enemy #1.
Have you ever learned something from your hair?
A Different Battle
In the past four years, as I’ve grown to love and take care of my curls, I’ve been having to fight a different battle: dryness. It seems that three decades of mistreatment has taken a toll on my hair. In recent years, I’ve spent time, effort and money into adding more moisture to my hair with little effect.
Until last summer; I decided to set some health goals which included increasing my water intake. I started small, knowing that changing from sugary juices and sodas to exclusively water was going to take a lot of effort and perseverance. Eventually I worked my way up to drinking 2-3 liters of water a day. Immediately I noticed a difference in my energy level and even in my sleep, but the most striking difference was my hair! I suddenly no longer had to spend money on moisturizing shampoos, conditioners, or hair products. The water I was drinking was nourishing my hair and giving it the moisture that it needed from the inside out!
In the same way, the work of transforming our hearts to a heart like God’s can only work from the inside out. I can try and try to change and “to prove” my transformation through external means, but that is all a practice in futility. This is because the work of transformation is not mine, but God’s. My job is to welcome him into my heart and allow him to transform me from the inside out.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10, NIV).
Jael Amador writes from New York.
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