The Hard and Holy Thing

 Please hear me, Girl: 

  The world has enough women who know how to do their hair. It needs women who know how to do hard and holy things.

                  Ann Voskamp






   I ran across this quote as I was scrolling through all the cool craft ideas, swimming quotes, hairstyles, and amazing photography in my Pinterest feed. It caught me a little off-guard, mostly because, to be honest, there's not a ton of REALLY profound quotes aside from the Bible that come across my feed. So I stopped. It felt like this quote was meant to be on Pinterest; I mean, welcome to the place where hair and beauty are taken and shared with the whole world! I realized there is a simple truth in this statement that very rarely do girls think about.

Are there more lasting things to think about than how I'm going to do my hair tomorrow?   

   It needs to be talked about because I'm afraid that there are quite a few Christian teen authors that will not address this principle. They talk about living for Christ, which is entirely true, but they don't go on to explain HOW we are to live for Christ in a practical way. 

   What defines something as hard and holy? Well, I've created this definition that I believe sums this up: 

Hard and Holy - something that goes against our selfish desires and benefits others rather than ourselves. 

   I wanted this definition to be all-encompassing, meaning that there are quite a few things that fall under this category. Before we get to that, please hear me out on a side note.

   Doing your hair is not a bad thing. Wearing makeup is not a bad thing. Dressing nicely is not a bad thing. What IS a bad thing is when your mind is totally fixed upon yourself that you don't see the needs of others around you. Trust me, I love doing my hair, wearing makeup, and dressing nicely as much as the next girl; but if we are constantly focused on our outward appearance, how does that look to others around us? We become the stereotypical teenage girl who only cares about herself (and possibly getting or keeping a guy's attention).

   The most general principles that we can follow are what Jesus told the Pharisees in response to a question. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." How do we love our neighbor as ourself? By putting them before ourselves. By trying to bless them. By being that support and encouragement that they need. By sacrificially loving them.

   What is sacrificial love? In essence, it is sacrificing yourself for the good of the other person. Putting their needs in front of ours instead of trying to get what we want out of the relationship. So many relationships today are based on the "bargain relationship." Both people get what they want, and when one stops providing the other person's desire, that relationship starts to falter. That's what makes sacrificial love so hard for people to understand. There is no reason behind our actions except that we want to be like Christ. That's what makes it so rewarding for us because we know we have shared Christ in some small way to another person. That's why sacrificial love is so important.

  We need to put other people's needs before our own. We need to show Christ to those around us. We need to do the hard and holy thing.