The Re-Count

Not long ago we took Maggie to the beauty shop for her first haircut. Her big baby blues had disappeared beneath scraggly strands of overgrown bangs and her blond hair had adopted a constant bed-head look regardless of the time of day. With great pleasure, Maggie climbed into the beautician’s chair and sat on the jungle-animal booster chair with a smug smile. Finally, she was doing something her big brothers and sisters got to do! The hair cutter giggled as Maggie waved her chubby fingers at her smiling reflection in the mirror and then announced with excited expectation, “This is going to be FUN!”


If the beauty shop was awarding medals that day, my fifth child would have undoubtedly been crowned with a gold. She sat still when instructed to do so. She froze in perfect position as the scissors delicately snipped her bangs, and she made amiable conversation with every elderly woman in the shop. I was ready to chalk up our morning at the beauty shop as a perfect first hair cut when Josh walked worriedly to the chair where Maggie sat. He glanced at his baby sister’s new and improved look and then stomped his foot on top  of the fine baby locks that had just been swept into a tidy pile on the floor. 


“Oh, great!” he muttered with dismay as he scattered the hair with one last kick.


“What’s wrong?” I asked stunned by the odd behavior of my four-year-old.


“Now God’s gonna have to re-count.” Josh moaned.


I stared at my disgruntled son for a moment and then burst into laughter.


“Oh,” I replied, “So God’s going to have to recount the hairs on Maggie’s head?”


“Yeah,” Josh muttered, “And I bet He’s got a LOT to do today!”


I assured Joshua that God had time to recount Maggie’s hair, because God loves Maggie that much. In fact, He loves us that much, too! 


If you’re feeling a bit insignificant today, dear Mom, pull one of those gray hairs (or well-paid for blond streaks) from your precious head and remember that God has plenty of time to recount!  No matter how small your life seems, the truth according to Christ is this: You are a BIG deal to the Savior of this world!


The Overflow:  What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. –Matthew 10:29-31, The Message