Lady With The Pink Hair

I met a lady with pink hair today.  Her kids started at my kids' school several weeks ago and I saw her for the first time last week....and I saw her pink hair.  Most of us like to think we don't judge each other, but we all do it.  So, it's really not a matter of who judges and who doesn't, it's more like a matter of who confesses to it and who doesn't.  Our minds are hardwired to evaluate and analyze, it is inherent to human nature.  So naturally, when I see someone with fluorescent pink hair my mind is going to begin to evaluate and analyze this thing that seems out of the ordinary.  And that is perfectly acceptable because that is what my mind was created to do.  However, what is not acceptable is for me to transcend from objective evaluation into subjective judgment.

You see, I cannot judge the lady with the pink hair because the lady with the pink hair has a story.  We all do.  The first thing that came to my mind when I saw her was when I colored my own hair candy apple red and bleached an inch of the tips blonde.  I was in my mid-twenties and I suppose it was a statement to the world as to how comfortable I was in my own body, as to how confident I was about my own identity.  Only looking back, am I able to see and admit to the reality that on the inside I was still trying to figure out who I was and where I belonged.  I was yelling about my confidence on the outside, while doubts whispered and lurked within.  But I cannot project my story onto the lady with the pink hair because she has her own story. 

I've come a long way since my mid-twenties and while I would be tempted to think that she and I now have very little in common, I had the pleasure to find out today that we actually have quite a lot in common.  You would not think she has a yard full of chickens like I do.  You would not think she has names for her chickens or her own pair of rubber boots that she wears out into the muddy chicken yard like I do.  You would not think that the lady with the pink hair would have the same feelings about the influence of cable television on her children as I do.  When she told me today that they do not have cable television, I was thrilled to find a kindred spirit.  She loves her chickens and she loves her kids....just like I do.

I cannot judge the lady with the pink hair because that is not what Christ calls us to do. Christ calls us to love.  He calls us to disciple.  He calls us to be His hands and His feet.  He calls us to listen to each other's story, and then to share and celebrate His story.  I love you lady with the pink hair.  I love you even though I don't know you because that is what Christ calls us to do.  I hope you are as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside.  I hope that we can be friends and I hope that I can hear your story.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)

"...for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)