NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

April 27

Scripture focus: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

Marion birthed three boys. As a mother myself to two boys and a girl, I know that gender makes a difference. You can give a boy all the dolls in the world and offer up guns and ammo to little girls just to be fair and at the end of the day there is still a gender difference. (That said, the girls in our family like technology, sports, sweating and fast cars more than a lot of guys I know. And I can say without equivocation that I have shot more guns and flung more arrows than all the guys in this family combined. I’m just saying, there are gender differences; I’m not saying what they are!!)

One of those differences for us was topics of conversation. We girls talked about things that she didn’t always feel the need to share with the guys. Pete and I learned this by comparing notes over the years. I would ask, “Did your mom tell you about….?”

“No. What are you talking about?” He’d ask, not that he really cared that much for the topic but I guess he thought it was the polite thing to do, which sort of proves my point. We also had this conversation in reverse.

One of the things Marion and I shared was a love for hair. We liked to talk about why we hated our own hair, and thought the other’s was so much better. The first year I was married, Marion bought one of those curling irons that had bristles. It was all the rage and came with a guarantee to make anyone’s hair a sight to behold. She raved about the results. I was skeptical. “I don’t know. My hair has a fine texture; it’s not full of body like yours. I bet that thing wouldn’t work for me.”

“Oh, yes, dear, it would. Let me show you.”

“Are you sure? Cause usually, stuff with bristles like that just gets tangled.”

“Well, dear, perhaps you just don’t know how to use it. I will show you how.”

“Ok, if you’re sure….” She plugged it in and I took my seat, hoping to be wowed but fearing the worst. Sure enough, she took hold of a strand of hair and wrapped the brush around it, way up close, next to the scalp…just like the instructions said to do if you wanted the perfect outcome. The result – instant tangle. That brush was so tightly wrapped in my hair that the only thing to do was get out the scissors. Fortunately, it was in the back, I never had to look at the damage. I understand it was a sight to behold.

The last week of Marion’s life, I made sure I brushed her hair first thing in the morning and last thing at night. There may be a time and season for lots of things, but a girl always needs her hair to look its best. Some things in life are simply non-negotiable. Have you ever thought about your non-negotiables?


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