A few weeks ago, I told my hairdresser I wanted my normal light brown/dark blonde color back. I've been highlighting for years, and I wanted to go more natural. The next thing I know, I'm walking out of the salon with dark, dark brown hair with reddish highlights. So dark, it’s almost black. Beautiful color, but sooooo not me. I've NEVER had such dark hair. It was darker than every one of my children! My family was shocked. My four-year-old thought it was ugly. My fifteen-year-old said, "Mom, it's not ugly, it's just not pretty." My seven-year-old said, "That's scary. Change it back!" Then he and his brother would scream and pretend to faint on the ground every time they saw me. (Thanks for the support, kids.)
Two of my teens said absolutely nothing. (They’re the ones who love me—just kidding.)
But it did grow on us a little. Soon my four-year-old said she loved it because it was just like hers. (It was much darker!) My fifteen-year-old changed her evaluation to, "It's not half bad," and I even liked it marginally better. The seven-year-old, however, was still true to the faith and said it was scary and he threw himself on the ground and scream every time I passed by.
I couldn't take it very longer. Three days after the first dyeing, my hairdresser (truly a sweet person) put in more highlights. But when I looked into the mirror, all I saw was GRAY! I'm thinking, "No way! This is insane. I've aged forty years." Dark, dark hair, with highlights throughout the entire thing. Yep, gray. I can't believe my eyes! When she sees my reaction, she throws on a bleaching product and finally gets something vaguely near my originally weaved color. I grabbe my laptop and ran from the place before anything worse happened, not really caring that the color was not in any dictionary on this earth, or probably in this universe.
Frankly, I looked a bit striped. And since then every day is a bad hair day. Honestly, I can't do anything with it! I planned to cut it all off in January and start over, but it hasn’t grown long enough. Instead, I’m going to have to go back and try another color. What a disaster!
But this got me thinking how important it is in life that we associate with people who share our values. Friends have a huge influence on your daily choices, especially if you're a teen. Everyone hated my hair at first just like we all hate the idea of sin. But as the days wore on and we were in close proximity, my family mostly became accustomed to my new look. It became normal. If we embrace friends who aren't good examples, or who actively put down our values, our ability to see sin fades. Rather, it becomes normal. Over time a girl might think, “So-and-so doesn't think it's wrong to date before she's sixteen, so maybe it's not that big a deal.” “Or, sneaking out of the house to meet so-and-so isn't that big a thing. We won't be doing anything bad.” Her perception changed. Is dating before sixteen still a big deal? Is sneaking out absolutely dangerous. YES! The counsel hasn't changed, just the girl's perception because of her association with someone who doesn't respect her values. Truths are eternal. It's only the people who change.
Now I can change my hair relatively easy, but the effects of sin are much more difficult to overcome. So it’s up to each of us to decide what kind of friends we will choose and what kind of friend we’ll be.
