THE EASTER WASH AND THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL CLEANSING

I’ve always had thick long hair. When I was a little girl, you won’t believe this, but I

only got my hair washed twice a year— Easter and when it was time to go back to school.

So twice a year, for what seemed like an eternity, my mother would try to tame the

untamable. I would cry, and she would fuss at me to keep still and stop crying– my mother

says, after washing my hair, that she would go to part it, and there would still be dry places-

that’s how thick and tangled it was. My hair was like a forest, like an unkempt garden

with vines and weeds all wound together, and twice a year— my mom would venture into

that jungle called my hair and try to tame it. Interestingly, my hair did not get combed or

brushed all the way through unless it was during the Easter wash or the back-to-school

cleansing— but to look at me, you would not know it. My mother brushed my hair every

day — the surface resembled order adorned with matching ribbons or barrettes, but

underneath was a tangled mess.

Children of God have to be careful not to live their spiritual lives that way— what I mean is

we have to make sure that what is on the outside matches what is on the inside. If our
exterior looks put together and groomed, and our insides are a jungle of unforgiveness and

pain, we are not living to our potential. If we attempt to avoid the pain of dealing with 

our tangled messes and decide to live with them, we fail to live to our potential. 

          Yes! It caused me significant discomfort to get my hair washed and combed out, but

when my mother decided to forge the forest, my face was cleaner, my hair smelt better, and

my hair was healthier. I want God to get in there and clean. I invite him to get in there and

make sure all the parts of my heart are blood washed — I don’t want to look like I have it

together. I want to have it together. By having it together, I’m not holding on to “stuff,” and

that “stuff” is not turning into a matted mess. I invite My Abba Father to get in there and

clean it— if I cry, I cry! If I squirm, I squirm! But in the end— my heart is clean. If I have to

do it daily, I’ll do it- and not wait until it’s an unmanageable mess. 

I pray for the peace of God and the love of God in your life– I pray that you will

allow God to do a work in you that will free you; that will free your mind and your hands so

that you can live the life God purposed for you– some things come along in our life, and it

stops us in our footsteps. Still, don’t stand there allowing life to plummet you with rocks;

hide under the shelter of His wings. We have an open invitation into His throne room. At

any time, you can bombard Him with your concerns— the pain of your situation may not

dissipate right away,  and his love for you won’t either— He will set you on a path of

healing! He will show you how to clean up! He will show you how to manage your “stuff.”

His only desire is to make you new, transform a right spirit in you, and bless you with

healing and well-being. God wants us to be well. He wants us to be spiritually healthy!