Your Hair Always Grows Back !!!

One of the most tragic characters from the Old Testament is Samson.  He’s the long-haired, muscled Adonis who was destined for greatness but fell for the wrong girl.  As a consequence, his long hair (which was the source of his strength) shaved off, the power of God left him and he was led away in disgrace by his enemies. His eyes were torn out and poor old Samson became an object of scorn, taken out and paraded at special events so that his tormentors could make fun of him.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there.

You see, despite his mistakes (and they were many), his hair grew back.  Despite the fact that he let down the people he was supposed to lead, his hair grew back. Despite the fact that he turned his back on his divine calling and brought all of his problems on himself, his hair grew back. His hair grew back and his strength returned.

In time, Samson was brought out and paraded before his enemies at a large feast so that he could be mocked and made sport of.  He was placed between the large pillars that held up the building they were in and used his restored strength to topple the building, killing over 3,000 people (including himself) in the process, which was more than he had killed during his great exploits before he had his hair shaved off.

This is the message for you today.

It doesn’t matter what mistakes you’ve made.

It doesn’t matter what negative situation you’ve found yourself in.

It doesn’t matter if you feel as though you have lost your strength to continue.

Your hair always grows back.

God gives us second (and third and 100th) chances.

His reservoir of grace and forgiveness never runs dry.

Your hair will grow back.

Your strength will return.

And I believe that there is the potential for you to impact the world in a far greater way than you did before you found yourself in trouble in the first place.

Life is all about taking chances. That leap of faith into the unknown. It terrifies us all, but where will we ever go in life if we don’t take a chance. The hardest part is finding a balance, knowing when to take the chance and when to take a step back. Knowing when to keep pushing forward in persistence versus when to just let go. It’s a balance of head and heart, of thoughts and feelings, of doing what’s “right” or doing what you “want/need” to do. It’s about not taking a chance and living with the regret that you’ll never know what might have been. Or taking the chance, risking it all, truly living life, and then accepting the often difficult path where that chance may lead.

When you look back on your own life, you see many choices that some may say were poor decisions. Do not regret a single one of those decisions. They have all taught you lessons, guided you along this journey to where you now stand.  And without making those choices, without taking those chances, your life would be consumed by too many “what if’s”.

Can you live with the knowledge that you have taken a chance, regardless of its consequences? Or can you live the rest of your life wondering “what if”? Can you live without taking that chance?