I was getting my hair cut the other day and a woman across the aisle said, “Man, you really have nice hair.” I didn’t realize at first that she was talking to me, until she came over to where I was to say, “People would kill to have hair like yours.” Now I guess there is something about my hair that is notable. The lady was not the first person to compliment me on my hair. I hear that pretty regularly. Go figure. The thing is I can’t take any credit for my hair. I don’t know what is so great about it, I have never liked the color (it is what my aunt, who has the same hair color, called mousy brown). If I let it grow longer it is pretty much unmanageable. If it is cut too short, it sprouts in every direction. 

 

The thing is most of us don’t like something about ourselves — usually something we had nothing to do with or can do nothing about. Such as: “Why can’t I be taller, skinnier, better-looking? Why couldn’t I have been born rich? Why couldn’t I have been born in another place, or another time? Why couldn’t I have a more pleasant singing voice, or a better jump shot?” 

 

You might be dissatisfied with the raw material you were given to work with, but the Bible says that God made you just as you are, and he specifically had you in mind at the time. Here’s how David expressed it. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous — and how well I know it. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! (Psalm 139:13-17) 

 

Abraham Lincoln said, “It is difficult to make a man miserable when he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.” 

 

Instead of grumbling about who you are, take some time to thank God for how he created you. He chose your parents, your birthday, your physical attributes, your talents, your intellectual capacity — you are just as he wanted you to be. He even knows about your weaknesses and limitations. 

 

Remember that you are who you are so that, somehow, God’s work can be displayed in your life. That’s what he had in mind when he created you. How might you display his work today? So, whatever it is about my hair I am thankful for it, and I’m trying to be thankful for being short and having stubby fingers. God made me, and God made you and God doesn’t make mistakes.