I began coloring my hair in my 20s…just for a change from my average dark brown mane. I went through a series of colors over the years, keeping a promise to my youngest daughter that I would not stop coloring my hair until after she graduated high school. Understandable…I gave birth to her at 38. Let’s face it…no teen wants their mom to look like their grandmother!

It was actually easier to “go gray” than I had imagined. Staying gray was a different story. Little by little I went lighter and lighter in my color until the gray blended and looked like nice highlights. Not bad. I could live with this. But I was still dying my hair; after all these years…did I really want to? The Bible says that gray hair is a sign of Wisdom; our society says gray hair means you are just plain old. Help Lord! I met a woman who told me it took two years for her to get used to the gray; I wasn’t sure I was ready to take that journey.

By adding highlights again, would I be compromising my convictions or achieving a healthy balance? Therein was the dilemma. This is what the dictionary says:

Compromise – an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.

Balance - a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.

Although compromise held a negative connotation for me, I realized in this case that a compromise might help me bring about the balance (in my hair!) that I desired.

I recently came across a quote by E.E. Cummings stating, ”It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.” I want to fulfill my God-given destiny and have the courage to embrace who I was created to be so that I can hear, “well done, good and faithful servant” no matter what the color of my hair.

”It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.”

The Fine Line

I have a responsibility. Titus 2:4 in the Living Bible states, “These older women must train the younger women to live quietly, to love their husbands and their children, and to be sensible and clean minded, spending their time in their own homes, being kind and obedient to their husbands, so that the Christian faith can’t be spoken against by those who know them.” Another translation says, “makers of a home where God is honored” – WOW!

The reference in my Life Application Bible reads, “Women who were new Christians were to learn how to have harmony in the home by watching older women who had been Christians for some time.” I must admit that this seems to be a lost practice. I have only seen this practically displayed ... READ MORE