Birthdays and a Black Woman's Hair

I was born in Jamaica on March 11, 1964. So that makes me 47 in a few days. But don't think I'm so brave to tell you my age (BTW: presents are appreciated.)  Once you've been a politician, your whole life is public--just look me up on Wikipedia. Now some of it is true and some are lies. Well, one reporter got his "facts" wrong 10 years ago and it keeps popping up. Even heard it again last month as someone read my bio outloud. Grrrr. I guess that's why my father always said, "Believe some of what you hear and half of what you read."


But I want to talk about a black woman's hair and stomp being a wimp. Watch me connect it to my birthday.

My mother's father came from a people in Jamaica called Maroons. They were Africans, brought to Jamaica as slaves, but killed their white owners and claimed to have never mixed with other races of Jamaicans. So it's a wonder that my mother, who is of very dark complexion, had very coarse, but very long hair--between shoulder blades! My father, on the other hand, had a mother who was half-Syrian and his father was half white or three-quarters something else....

So my hair was something of a hodgepodge. My mother told me never to relax my hair since people said I had "good hair"--because the relaxer would destroy it. See, I wanted bouncing and behaving, fly away hair.  Well, I didn't listen and I later regretted it. While we are here, what is "good hair"? I detest hearing people describe hair in these terms and it is long past time for us to know better. If it is "good hair," then I am diminished!  Good compared to what? Already we are having to tell the grandchild that her hair is what God wanted for her.

                 
And what got me talking about this hair business is that I have a birthday coming up--as I already mentioned. And birthdays have a way of making you consider what you've accomplished in your life, what you could have done better, opportunites you might have missed, etc. Yesterday, I washed my hair with the new procedures that I learned from Moptopmaven.com. See I've decided that I'm no longer spending X dollars at the beauty shop and endless hours to get my hair straight so that it's acceptable. Acceptable to whom? What is acceptable?

So, I read Moptop's blog for hours, watched the videos, bought the products and have been faithful to it for three months now. Yesterday was my time to try the Henna treatment.

I prepared the Henna from the night before and put it on my hair. I walked around with that mess on my hair for four hours, stinking, then conditioning, then putting four different products on my hair, then blow drying, and finally to bed. I looked over at my husband, who has cut his hair so close that he's almost bald. I got real mad. All he does is wash and go!

Then before church this morning, I spent another hour getting my hair straight with the curling iron! As I watched the plumes of smoke rise from my head, I wondered if I'd burned my hair and undone all the work I've been fastidious about. This is now the fourth time in my life that I've that I have chopped off my hair--I mean down to the skull, to start all over to get my hair back to natural. And I start to get mad again. Why? Why am I doing this? I'm going to 47 in a few days! Why am I spending ssooo much time on my hair? Have I learned nothing and here I'm about to be one year older?

So here's what I've decided: I'm done--like the Sesame Street video says.  Done with making my hair presentable.

What is presentable?  Does it have to be smooth to be presentable?  Done with being a slave to my hair. Done with spending money on it. Just plain done. So, if you see me one day and I have hair as long as Lady Godiva and the next it's in an afro, don't ask me if it was a wig. You know it had to be a wig! I'm not gonna worry that the grand kids will talk about my wig in public. I don't care that YOU are trying to figure that it's not my hair because, "Girl, you know she can't get it that straight!" I don't care that you know that last month it was black and this month it's got some grey, "So you know she had to have been coloring it!" Naw, I don't care anymore.

This is the hair God gave me. I'm not being a militant, black woman--just wearing my hair naturally, the hair God wanted me to have. He knew this was the best hair for me. So, no more wimping out! Yes! It's a wig! Yes! I colored it! Yes! My hair is this long or maybe not! Yes! This time it's really my own hair!

By the way, the hour I spent before church on getting my own, natural hair straight did look nice today. Husband said so. Easy for him to say: like I said, all he does is wash and go. But, maybe I'll put off buying the wig until my next birthday--when I do my self assessment, again. And get mad, again.

Laughter: the Dental Way

You know, we sometimes see God, or as like to call Him:  Daddy (that's what Abba means), as just waiting for us to mess up and then "BAM!"  He hammers us.  Now what kind of sadistic Father would that make Him out to be?

 ABBA Verses:  Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6

And then, we could even say Dad would also be schizophrenic:

1.) one minute He is stripped naked in front of people, then allows Himself to whipped with an instrument that takes his flesh off, is cursed and spat upon, is hung on a cross, barely being able to breathe, skin and blood sticking to the splinters in the cross, more cursing and all because he wants to save us and take us to be home with Him;

 BUT then next minute

2.)  God is waiting to clean our clock, to find reason to be angry with us?

C'mon!  Who you gonna believe:  God or satan?  Either Dad loves us to death (hey!) or He is against us.  Can't He make up His mind?  Are you gonna let the evil one convince you that you're so far gone that even God can't save you?  That your sin is so great that not even the blood of Jesus is powerful enough to wash that away?  And will you let the enemy tell you, "You just can't ask for forgiveness for that sin and expect that God will be immediately cool with you.  You've got to give it time."  Rubbish!  God is always quick to forgive:  Jonah 4:2 and Luke 15:30.  So don't wimp out, tell the enemy to get away from you.

And let's lighten up today, people.  Watch this video that will make you laugh.  And that's another thing, why would Dad create us with the ability to laugh only to want us to live a life where we're so pious we look like we've been sucking on lemons all day?

Remember, righteousness comes from the inside out, not the other way around!

Here's the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw0df0wNnVQ

Post some of your "laugh" videos here!

Faith: A simple definition

For so many years I've asked people what faith is.  I've gotten so many different answers that no sooner than I thought I knew what it meant, someone else gave me a different answer!  And even reading the Bible left me somewhat confused.   Have you experienced that, too?  But that same Bible pointed me to the definition and it was there all the time

So let me tell you right away the definition of faith:  "Knowing that God has the power to do whatever You're asking him to do.  I'll explain more later and then you'll see my point.

Now back to my story:  It wasn't until I lost my race for Congress that I began the process of understanding faith.  I thought if God sends/calls you to do a thing, then you will be succcessful.  And so, when I lost my congressional race, I was in shock.  But what tripped me up is that I viewed success from the world's point of view.  What do I mean?  Well, the world looks at the outcome of some action that you took and then proclaims whether your plan was successful.  But God's idea of success is simply this: " Did you do what I told you to do?"  Put another way, "Were you obedient?"

See, I was having faith in the outcome of the election--that God would cause me to win.  My faith should have been in the One who has the power to make it happen.  Faith doesn't look at the outcome, the end.  Faith looks to the POWER of God.  Faith is KNOWING that God HAS the power (or is able)  to do whatever you ask of Him. 

Here's proof:  Mark 9:23 the man doubts that Jesus has the POWER to heal his son; Mark 5:30 when the woman touches the hem of his garment, she is healed and Jesus says "...POWER has gone out of Me"; Numbers 11:23 When Moses doubts God can supply the meat, God asks Moses, "Is there any limit to my POWER?"; Luke 7:8 The Roman officer tells Jesus that since Jesus has authority (POWER), then Jesus just needs to speak and his servant will be healed.  Jesus then exclaims that He has not experienced this kind of faith anywhere!  And I could go on and on but search it for yourself.

Now, you understand that it takes faith to believe that what the Bible says happened did actually happen.  And that what the Bible says will happen, will infact happen.  It takes faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  And when you read Hebrews 11 you realize that all those people KNEW that God had the POWER to accomplish what He said he would do.

Your faith is not a blind faith, though.  It is a proven faith.  You KNOW that God has the power to do whatever it is.   And we are called to prove to unbelievers that Jesus is the Son of God--did you know that.  It's in the Bible.  Additionally, Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that the proud people trust (have faith) in themselves--but that the righteous people are supposed to live by faith (KNOWING that God has POWER) to do whatever.

Here's the deal, if you don't KNOW that God has the power to do whatever it is, you will not want to obey Him, obey him halfway, or take your time to obey Him.  Fear will enter your heart becuase you are doubting that God is greater than your employer, than the drug dealer down the street, than your client who God has told you to witness to.

So, are you sick?  Then your faith should say something like this:  "Lord, I know that you have the power to........heal me.  The first part of the sentence is your faith and the second part is your hope.  Faith and hope are not the same thing.  Are you in need of God's help in some other way?  It's the same sentence, only change the second part.  Remember, your faith is not in the outcome but in KNOWING that God has the power to .....

And I want to quickly say that not everyone who asks for healing, etc will be healed/be successful the way that the world sees it on this side of life.  Timothy wasn't healed of his stomach trouble (as a blog I recently read pointed out).  And consider how many were martyred for believeing in Jesus Hebrews 11:37.

Finally, bretheren and sisteren, faith ultimately comes down to trust.  Now I've gone and done it:  I've thrown in trust right as I'm about to finish.  Listen, faith and trust are not the same thing.  The same as faith and hope are not the same either.  While faith is KNOWING that God has the power to....Trust is RELYING on God's strength, integrity, power, etc.  So going back to my healing example, you would say, "Lord, I know that you have the power to heal me.  And I trust you.  Do whatever You want."  So trust makes yoy rely on God's will.  Trust causes you to rest, to simply fall back into God's arms to be held up by His power.  So, faith, hope, and trust.  It's all there.

But without faith (knowing that God has the power to) it is impossible to please God  (Hebrews 11:6)

Question:  What is faith to you?