Dye-ing to self.

A truly beautiful little 12 yr old girl I know wants to dye her lovely brown locks blond.

And I told her, from my stores of infinite wisdom (har har): "You will never make yourself more beautiful than what the Master Creator has already designed you to be."

The most creative Being you could possibly imagine has designed your hair, your eyes, your nose, your cheeks, all flowing together with perfect harmony and beauty. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Inside. And outside.

So if you're changing your body, your hair, for simple funs sake - by all means go right ahead. But if you're changing it to be "prettier" you will never be more pretty than when you are exactly what God made you.

I said all this and got my typical reaction "I better go home now" :) She's used to lectures from me on being what God wants. I'm almost surprised she still visits at all when she doesn't seem to want to hear what I say. But she does. And I still speak.

But as I sat in church yesterday during the message my mind became distracted from the preacher as I wondered if I don't do the very same thing. Sure I don't do it physically, but do I do it internally? Do I attempt to be things He has not created me to be all for the sake of being "better"? Have I not put things in my life that perhaps He never intended to be there?

Did I search for a job in a career field He didn't want me to be in just because it was more "professional"?
Did I look at missions trips when He just wanted me to learn to witness to my next door neighbor?
Did I think my house has to have a certain "look"?
Did I think I needed to see all the most popular movies and tv shows so I could develop friendships with the "world" by being "current".
Did I think I needed to dress a certain way because my own taste might be thought "odd".
Did I need to stop sporadically talking in a British accent because people might think it's weird?? Ok, maybe I'm getting a little too personal. :)

Point being, there is something genuine, beautiful, and unique in each of us as to our personality, and His plans for our lives. Some of us are destined for wealth and riches because of His plans. Others are destined for wealth in faith and jobs that put us just below the poverty level. Some of us will make our friends at mommy and me classes, while others make their friends chatting it up with supermarket employees.

We're different. But sometimes we're different from what God has planned for us because we don't quite get his plan or think it's "pretty" enough.
But maybe we just need to grow into it.
So, if you're just enjoying your hair and add another color just to play with it - go for it.
But if you're searching for beauty - discover your beauty in the brown.

Advice to the world from my mother.

I am a person who covets advice like candy. I want to hear wisdom, as those words sound sweeter in my ears than almost any other. So, being greedy concerning those things I felt not even a smidge of remorse as I hit my miserable little mother with question after question. I went into it wondering if I’d get anything of value, seeing as her sentences don’t all make sense now.
“Do you want something to drink mom?”
“Well, they’ll all get around if it’s here.”

Ooooook.
After enough of those conversations I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I’d get much. So thanks to low expectations, she far exceeded them. It took awhile, there was some staring off into space and forgetting the question, there were some random answers with words that all together didn’t even make a sentence, there was even some nodding off, and there were also answers that I asked her what she meant and after a little bit I was able to put together what she was trying to get at.

All this advice for the price of a Dr Pepper and a hamburger.

What advice would you give to a young person today?
Use what you got.
(It seems overly simple at first until you start to think about it and the word “But” inevitably comes into your mind. Use what you got anyway.)

What advice would you give to a young single woman today?
Be prepared.
Be prepared for what?
If she’s gonna flirt with someone, she might get more than she bargains for.

What advice would you give to a young mother today?
Make sure you read the same things as the kids.
(I thought our words might have gotten mixed up, so I asked her to explain it, but we were having difficulty… ultimately she actually meant to make sure you live the life you’re telling your kids to live.)

What advice would you give to a young man today?
Treat her right.
(I asked her what if he didn’t have a girl, and I have no idea what that answer was.)

What advice would you give to a pastor today?
Tell them the truth.
(No explanation necessary)

What advice would you give to a pastors wife today? (My dad and her were pastors of several churches over the years.)
Don’t get upset when they try and throw you a net.
(Seeing as my family nickname has always been Net, I took umbrage to that and asked her to explain. We circled the world a few times before it came out that church women can sometimes be the worst in the world and they attack pastors wives. I’ve seen it in cases that didn’t involve my mom even so the general idea is, don’t get upset when the church women attack you and try and make you feel less than you are.

What advice would you give a child today?
Don’t be afraid to stand.
(Asked her to elaborate and she described something along the lines of a child not being afraid to stand up for what they feel is right even though they’re young.).

~~~

I was kicking myself for not having paper and pen, so nothing was written down and these are all done just as best as I can remember them. They may have been more that I don’t remember unfortunately.
As I said though, I want wisdom, It’s like a sweet tooth craving to me (even stronger than a Sonic Slushie, which is saying something!) So if anyone reading this has any answers to these questions of their own – please know that someone over here really wants to read your answers. What advice would you give? If you answer several and have a blog of your own I’ll be happy to publish your responses in a post as well linking to your blog. You can answer in comments or email flyawaynet@hotmail.com
I'd love to see your answers.