Timely lesson from hair grips

[notice] A fortnightly column by Anna Heydenrych[/notice]

I always like to keep some hair grips with me in case of a hair emergency.  These little metal clips can be bought in packs of about 20 to 30 units and are one of my staple accessories.  So when they run out, I make a point of purchasing a new pack right away, lest I be caught with a stray strand of hair and no way to fix it.

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The other day, while scrimmaging through my stockpile of hair accessories, I realised that I was down to my last two hair grips (the minimum quantity required for a hair fix).  It always happens this way:  I buy a new pack and then, knowing that I have a newly topped-up supply, I use them without much regard of where they end up at the end of the day.  The next day I just go back for more.  So inevitably, I end up with two grips.  These two grips then become like gold to me.  I look after them with careful attention, knowing at all times where they are.  I can go through the first 20+ hair grips in less than a week, but the last two can last me up to six months.

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As I carefully removed the last two grips from my hair accessory draw and placed them safely in a pocket in my handbag, I thought about how easy it is to be wasteful with something when it is plentiful.  Hair grips are the same thing whether I have many of them or just two, yet I value and treat them differently depending on the level of my supply.

I don’t care too much about all my lost hair grips, but thinking about them got me thinking about the relationship between the way I value time and use this commodity. When I was 18, I felt I had all the time in the world to achieve my goals and realize my dreams, but as I am getting closer and closer to 30, I realize that time should not be treated like a brand new pack of hair grips.  I should regard each and every day as a gift.  I should not let time pass without pressing in to God and finding out what He has planned for me for my time on this earth.  I don’t want to wait until my last two years to realize what I could have done with my time had a valued it more.

One Comment

  1. True! Another thought provoking column, Anna.