Shades of Gray

When I was in my mid-20s, I noticed that I had a few gray hairs scattered among my otherwise brownish hair. When I was in my mid-30s, I noticed that I had a significant number of gray hairs, about as many gray ones as brown. When I was in my mid-40s, I had way more "salt" than "pepper." I'm 51, and my son Brad tells me that my hair can no longer be deemed gray ... he says it's white. And I'm OK with my white hair. Problem is that other people keep telling me that I should color my hair.

Yesterday, someone asked me what day I was going to have my hair "done" for Meghann's wedding. I replied that the gal who's done Meg's and my hair for many, many years is coming to Meghann's apartment Saturday morning. The I'm sure well-meaning lady then said, "She's going to dye your hair the morning of the wedding? I don't think that's very smart at all; what if something goes wrong? You'd hate to have purple hair for the wedding, and that's what happens sometimes when someone is as gray as you are." Gee, lady ... thank you ever so much ... really, ever so much. I tried to sweetly tell her that I'm not getting my hair dyed ... not for the wedding or any other occasion or any other day ... I am seriously fine with my hair being white. After a "Well, if that's what you choose ... " followed by a clucking of her tongue and a shaking of her head, the conversation ended.

All evening, I couldn't help but think about grayness, and it didn't take long for my thoughts to shift from superficial things like hair to something far more serious and important. Sitting out on my deck drinking some delicious strawberry guavabana water, I started thinking of how easy it is to go from seeing certain areas of life as black and white to seeing them as gray instead. It's kind of like the way you're so strict about everything with your first child ... like boiling his pacie every time it hits the ground ... as compared to the way you are by the time the third kiddo arrives ... you take the pacie out of the dog's mouth, wipe it off with your shirt and plop it back in the kid's mouth. Things that you were once so rigid about concerning right or wrong somehow get shuffled by society, by education, even by the church.

Here's the thing, though ... God has given us a set of directions for how He wants us to live and to view the world. He doesn't say, "You only have to obey part of my commands, and you can choose the ones that please you most," or "You only have to love some of your neighbors, and again, you can choose the ones you want to love." God's Word tells us how to live, period. My attempt to take what God tells me in black and white and make it gray ... well, the more I've thought about it, the more I think that's just plain old sin.

I really am fine with my hair being gray ... it's just hair after all. But I'm not fine with being gray when it concerns my walk with my Lord ... not fine at all. My prayer is that God would burn His will and His way into my heart and soul, that He would show me the areas where I'm gray ... the areas where I need to be black and white ... the areas where I need His grace and mercy to make me who He desires me to be.