An unexpected compliment

Earlier last week while doing my hair (it was one of the rare weekdays where I fix it instead of putting it in a pony tail) my flat iron stopped working. I didn't think too much of it and went about the day. However, yesterday being a Sunday (a day I almost always do my hair) I plugged in the flat iron and it still didn't work. I looked in the mirror and my hair was sticking out all over the place. Aside from putting it up in a pony, I didn't know what to do. I grabbed out my curling iron that I've had since high school and probably haven't even used since then. (I'm amazed I still had it and better yet, knew where to find it!) With the curling iron I tried to fix the sticking out portions of my hair, then used hairspray to keep them in place. It helped a little, but I was starting to feel self conscious about to go to church. Now out of time, I figured I wouldn't look in a mirror while at church and I'd just forget about my hair.

Having two kids to manage during church helped me accomplish my morning resolve. I completely forgot about the broken flat iron and the terrible hair day until a visitor gave me a very unexpected compliment. In the middle of our conversation she said, "you have beautiful hair." Her remark gave me a big boost and reminded me that often we are too hard on ourselves. What we see as flaws or weaknesses can actually be beautiful and beneficial to others. The challenge is looking beyond ourselves and seeing where our strengths and weaknesses can actually be useful.