A HALF-FINISHED HAIRCUT AIN'T PRETTY

I was cutting my son's hair yesterday when he suddenly jumped up--mid-haircut--to see how it looked.

His jaw dropped when he saw his hair in the mirror.

"It's all a mess, Mommy!" he exclaimed.

And it was. One side was short, the center was patchy, and the other side was long and sticking up. But in my defense, I wasn't done working yet.

Hmmm...familiar. Because I am very much in a "mid-haircut" kind of time in my life. And while I should simply remain still and allow God to finish what He started, instead I find myself jumping up from that place of stillness to stare at my current state. And what I see leaves me thinking, "Oh no, that isn't even kinda cute!"

I've found myself saying "Look at this mess!" to the One who isn't done working yet.

I suppose I'm in good company here. Because somewhere between God calling Moses to lead His people out of slavery and the fulfillment of that promise, things got plenty ugly.

There was a lot that happened in between the "burning bush" moment of Exodus 2 and the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. In the middle was Exodus 5--a very "mid-haircut moment" in which Moses looked in full view at the circumstances--and it wasn't pretty. He even cried out to God in anger and confusion, "Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on these people. And You have not rescued Your people at all." He'd gone to bat for the Israelites but his intervention appeared to make things worse. He incited Pharaoh's anger against God's people, forcing them to work twice as hard with less material. And it didn't improve--Pharaoh's heart remained hard through countless plagues. None of this looked promising. Just looked like one big ol' mess!

But deliverance was coming. And it was soon clear that what Moses saw as a disaster was nowhere near the end of the story.

That means everything to me today. It means that I can sit peacefully, knowing that He who began a good work will be faithful to finish it. It means I don't have to look at my halfway-through circumstances in fear, because what might look like a mess now will one day be seen as a God-ordained, beautiful finished product.

He is the Author...Perfecter...Finisher of our faith.

"He has made all things beautiful in its time--no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11