Sunday, February 8, 2015

Tangles, snarls and scissors

My three oldest nieces have long, full, curly heads of hair. Their curls range from curly Q's to soft waves but all are thick and full of volume. And often times, full of tangles. Those crazy snarls are the plight of the curly haired. Just like a rose has thorns, bouncy curls have tangles.
It used to be that my precious nieces turned into temper-tantrum throwing beasts when it came time to comb their hair. Just the sight of the plastic hair tool sent them running in the opposite direction, in search of the closest room with a lock. The daily ritual of combing out the huge snarls became so tedious that at some point their Mom threw in the towel altogether and let them live with a bed of tangles under the top layer of combed beauty.
But someday, all tangles must dealt with - be it in the hair on our heads or the webs we weave in our lives, tangles can't go on forever. The longer we ignore them the more severe the process of removal.
Just recently one of my nieces faced this stark reality when a tangle in her hair went without being untangled for so long that the only recourse was removal by scissors. A trip to the hair salon later and her snarls were only a memory, replaced with a shorter, smoother new style.
As with hair's tangles, life's tangles are best addressed early, before they grow out of control and need to be removed by force - or large scissors. Tangles never go away on their own. Time without detangled only creates more a knotted, matted mess.
The same is true with the tangles and knots of sin. Sin left unreported and unresolved leads to a life  full of tangles and unruly knots. The removal process will only grow more taxing, tedious and painful with time. The bigger the knot, the longer we let that sin grow unchecked, the bigger of an ordeal it will be to remove it.
The only way to resolve the snarled mess of sin is to seek Christ, the "hairdresser of the soul and master of the scissors." He can break the chains of entanglements and restore spirits to a condition better than ever before. God might have to snip and clip to remove sin and waywardness but the results will always be the perfect cut.
From now on when I get a tangle I'm letting God take care of it with a comb before He has to go in with the scissors. I want to wear the style of forgiveness, renewal and redemption, not sin, rebellion and shame. With God as my stylist I need never live with the snarls of sin.

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