From her time in a salon, a stylist gave me this observation. As she works, she notices that there seem to be two types of clients who come into a shop. They both want their hair cut, coloured, and styled, and neither one has experience with hair.

The first client thinks she knows exactly what she wants, but seems to have no idea what she’s talking about. She directs the stylist with, “No, don’t cut there, cut over here!”, “I don’t want blonde, I want red!”, and “You’re not doing it right!” She thinks, just by looking in the mirror, that she knows more than the professional. So, the stylist decides to give Client #1 what she’s asking for, and it turns out to be a really bad hair day.

The second client recognizes that she knows nothing about hair, so she allows the stylist to do what she thinks is best, and Client #2 walks out looking and feeling like a queen. When she’s asked about her great look, she tells about her trip to the salon, and attributes it all to her amazing stylist.

Even If we believe ourselves to be Client #2, and are confident that God knows what He’s doing in our lives, we still have a tendency to morph into Client #1. We want the friends that we want, we want to go where we want to go, we want to watch what we want to watch, we want to say what we want to say, and we want to do it all when we want to do it. Looking into our tiny mirror from our little spot on earth, we try to advise the omniscient, omnipotent Lord of glory. Yet, as He stands behind us, He can already see the whole picture. He’s the “professional”; He knows what He’s doing. Running our lives from our “salon chair” will yield consequences much worse than just a bad hair day. Yes, it’s a struggle to have the attitude of a Client #2, saying “I’m here to serve You”, and “I trust You to know what’s going on.” But when we do that daily, we make it possible for the Lord to use us to fulfill His plans for our lives. It is those plans that will bring Him the most glory, and bring us the most peace.

Isaiah 6:8b
Job 23:10
Jer. 29:11