The Barbershop

My little man loves the barbershop
Right from the very day he had his first haircut.
I still remember the video his dad made on his first visit when he turned 1.
Little Zaine in a big swivel chair covered in a cutting gown;
No tears, no fuss.... just pure excitement..
He totally loved it and it has now become a routine he shares with his dad every fortnight.

So few weeks back,When I asked if I could take him to the barbershop because his hair was overgrown, he blatantly refused;I want dad to take me not you!
Well, daddy was away and mummy would have to do came my reply,after promising that I would make his favourite meal of okra and Amama(Amala ; a western Nigerian meal) he obliged,So off we went.(The joys of parenthood 🤣🤣😂)

As we awaited our turn,I couldn’t help but notice a tearful little boy in
One of the barber’s chair...
His doting dad was trying to console him to no avail as the barber struggled to finish the cut.
He was a new guy and I could tell he was having a hard time and from time to time his boss came over to offer advice.
After what seemed like ages,He finished but unfortunately the little boy had a little cut on his sideburn and he left the salon with his dad wailing.

As I looked on, a boy who was before us was beckoned on to the chair but his mum firmly refused.
Then he looked at me and asked if he could cut my Zaine’s hair and I hesitated for a bit, said no and pointed at the same guy the other mum had pointed to.He looked at me sheepishly, shrugged his shoulders: picked up his cleaning brush and cleaned up after the other barbers.”The preferred guy” had a smug look on his face, as if to say; look at me:every one is rushing me.

There was something about the way the “rejected guy” looked at me though, the way his eyes flickered…it made my heart sink....I knew that look all too well, the slumped shoulders and hesitant steps…the open embarrassment and bruised ego..
We all sat there and had watched him fail…seemingly.
Before our very eyes we had seen him struggle so we wrote him off and concluded that he was no good, a failure.
Ah…How could I not have given him a chance to prove himself…to learn?
How could I have judged him based on only one account.
Ah..My heart ached. As the holyspirit convicted me.
I knew exactly what it felt like to be judged and looked down upon on but here I was guilty of doing same.

Few minutes later a dad arrived with his son and the boss beckoned on the “rejected barber” to give him a hair cut.In no time he pulled out all the stops and produced an impeccable cut.
I eyed the little boy’s hair cut and compared to what the supposedly “preferred”barber was doing
The “rejected guy” clearly beat him hands down.
He had made a come back.

As we made our way back home with zaine's mediocre hair cut,I was deep in thought as the lessons learnt at the barbershop sank in..
How quick as humans we are to judge a book by its cover..
How we forget our own painful, shameful experiences in a hurry and fail to be gracious with one another,
How we react to those who have failed, especially before our eyes.
We forget our past struggles which have now become victories.
I am guilty and I bet you are too
May God help us all.

We all have faced seeming failure in one way or the other,
We have at some point been the “rejected guy”in this story but
thank God for the owner of the barbershop…He knew by experience that one bad experience could not define the new guy,
He knew that he had to learn :fail a few times :become good and possibly great.
He gave him a chance and urged him to ditch the cleaning brush and cut again.
And Cut he did.
May we have men like that in our lives, that believe in what we can become and push us to keep going, when no one else believes or sees who we can become.

I learnt a lot from my visit to the barbershop that day
And it has truly impacted me…
I pray that like this man, you would keep going, keep trying and failing and trying yet again
Regardless of who is watching and not willing to take a chance on you.
I pray you would take a chance on yourself and keep pushing.
I pray that you would not allow one bad experience define or label you a failure.
I pray that the people who said no to you would look on and wish they hadn’t.

Keep going…Don’t stop..no matter how many times you have been rejected.
You are one attempt away from success.
Today is a new day and a fresh opportunity to start over.
Be encouraged.

God bless you.

The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.
Psalm 118:22 (GNT)

@thiswomanoffaith.