long hair, free scarves, and God’s provision

This is a story of how God did something little for me – by providing something for me that I didn’t need, for free, and then let me multiply it with a little ingenuity and work on my part.

A few weeks ago, the Bible study group that I attend on Wednesday mornings had their fall kickoff. Potluck food, introduction to new Bible studies, girl talk, and door prizes.

And I won a door prize. Because I was the woman with the longest hair in the room. That’s all.

Proof:

I walked up to the platform to collect my prize and grabbed a bag. As I did my friend, Annah, who was running the giveaways, smiled and said something about it being a scarf. I peeked in and saw what looked like three scarves. I was slightly stoked.

(I have this weird, awkward relationship with scarves…they are growing on me, and I’d been looking to expand my collection for the winter, but we don’t have any extra money to spend on such trivialities.)

I opened the bag and pulled out what turned out to be one scarf. One very busy…BUSY scarf.

Had I not been surrounded by a table of women, I probably would have made a face like this:

(No offense intended, Annah. I’m just still sort of scared of scarves. And I’m scared of busy prints. And I’ve never worn animal print any time in the last 10 years, possibly longer.)

I tried it on when I got home. And I cringed. It was just so. not. me. It was big, bulky, and…BUSY.

(Please don’t mind the just-out-of-the-shower hair)

I tried to like it. I really did. (Again, SORRY ANNAH!)

But then I took a moment to notice how the scarf was made. Long strips of the different prints. In a straight line. And it occurred to me that I could cut the thing into several pieces and make three separate scarves.

I had nothing to lose (since I got the thing for free as it was).

This thing was huge:

I cut it into three sections and spent the next two days ironing the hems down and straight (okay straight-ish) stitching the raw edges closed. And the result was three new scarves. Light and thin, just how I like scarves. Three new additions to my wardrobe that – while still on the busy-er and wild-er and I’m-still-not-that-crazy-about-animal-prints side – I don’t mind wearing.

Least favorite, the yellow leopard print:

Next, the blue horseshoes:

(^^yeah…he’s mine!^^)

And now, my favorite: the pink and green zebra print:

So there you have it. My long hair wins me one free scarf that I chop up into three free scarves. Courtesy of a little bit of work, a little bit of ingenuity, and a lotta bit of God giving me gifts that I don’t need but sure make me feel loved.