Me, My Hairdryer, and A Dose of Perspective

So earlier this week I was drying my hair. Literally, I'd just started when it made this awful noise and died. With my hair still dripping wet.

And it wasn't one of my stay-at-home-wear-yoga-pants kind of days. I had places to go. Things to do. People to see. Let me expound by saying I have silky pin-straight hair that begs for a hair dryer before it will even consider playing nice. Plus, with it being a whopping zero degrees out, the idea of letting it stay wet left me with pictures of icicle strands where my should-be luscious locks should be.

As I stood staring at myself in the mirror and envisioned all the people I'd run into, I concluded my day was ruined before it had even started. Not only that, but my mood dive-bombed to a beyond grumpy status in 2.3 seconds flat.

All because of a hair dryer.

And I kid you not, that's what God dropped into my spirit. You're letting a hair dryer ruin you day, yet you:

Woke up. As in, you're breathing.

Had breakfast--with coffee. Have kids who woke up. Healthy. Have a husband who woke up before you and is already out the door--to his job. Had heat overnight. Solid walls that kept out the wind and snow. Clean water to drink AND bath in...that's why my hair was wet. Oh right, and at least I HAD hair! I also had a car that was going to take me places that day, one of which was the grocery store...

I could go on, but I don't need to. I'm sure the picture is becoming as clear to you as it was to me. Sometimes we let the littlest of things blow into huge issues that steal our peace. Not only steal it, but replace it with a sour spirit that can overflow on others. I mean, ladies, we all love to look good and there's nothing wrong with that. However, when it takes over how we act, then we have a problem.

So as I allowed God to turn my attitude around by bringing a little perspective to my morning (my day was definitely inconvenienced, but it was not ruined), I also began to roll up the cord to my hair dryer. It was then that I noticed the lint cap on the back was filled with lint. Ok. Honestly. Not something I look at often, but because I hadn't taken the time to clean it, my hairdryer couldn't get a steady stream of clean air. Too much debris was getting in the way.

And God just handed me a little more perspective with my hairdryer. Because when we don't take the time to clean up the little messes that stick with us--like anger after an argument, or jealousy over someone else's position, or bitterness from unmet expectations (go ahead and jump in here)--then these things clog up the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to allow Him to flow, unhindered, into all our issues so that we can work the way we were created to: as children of God showing all of his attributes.

I removed the lint cap and cleaned it, then tried running my hair dyer again. It started off slow but after a few minutes was back to its intended speed. Kind of like you and I. So today, how about we each try cleaning out an area that is may be preventing the freshness of God in our lives? I bet our day runs a whole lot better once we do:)