My Gray Coat, A Gift from Mom!

I made a decision last year to stop coloring my hair…partly because I was just tired of spending the money and partly because I wanted to look like Emmy Lou Harris!  Ha!

As the story goes, I first started coloring my hair in my early 30’s…because a beloved beautiful boxed blonde friend pointed out a few of my gray hairs and told me I’d look stunning as a red head!  Much to my surprise, it looked pretty darn good and St. Philip just happened to fall in love with me that way.    Fast forward 20 years or so… And as you might have guessed, as many colors later, some out of a box and some at the hands of great and not so great stylists, I was just done!!!

And now my coat is just one color.  We’ll call it Natural Platinum or Soft Silver!  No gloves or harsh chemicals necessary, just something I happily inherited from my mother with the same coat.   Albeit a bit premature, I have to admit that in the past year I’ve been mistaken for her sister a few too many times.  I just chalk it up to the fact that my Mom looks VERY young for her age!

Sometimes I take it to my sensitive heart, but most of the time I am able to laugh and thank God because I have earned every single strand.  Believe me I know that my silver is not the only characteristic I take from my precious Mom.   In addition I received her strength, her stamina, her determination, her compassion and her love for her children.   That’s not to say that all our likenesses are desirable, no need to mention hardheadedness or perfectionism.   But she, as I, lived through some very difficult earlier days and made a few mistakes on her journey, so the lessons learned from those missteps lead her right where she stands today… 

Steadfastly, beautifully gray and graytful for God’s love and grayce! 

I joyfully call her my mother, my coat maker, my friend...and even my Sister!   B 

 

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)