There is something in the spring sunshine that allows the hibernating winter eye to suddenly see three things:

1. Dirt/Dust and general messiness
2. Extra plumpness around the mid-section
3. an exaggerated rate of growth in anything green in the yard

And the consequences of this new spring sight are:

1. Spring Cleaning
2. Bike riders and joggers everywhere
3. the cranking up of lawn mowers and weed eaters

There is one more thing in our house that is noticeable …. our beloved but high maintanance dog, Moses P. Diddy Hall  a.k.a. Moe, has a shaggy do… You might be thinking a trip to the groomers is the consequence to Moe’s long locks but not at our house.  We are thrifty when it comes to giving Moe his spring makeover…. shears and scissors and he’s looking good.  Well, lets just say, he looks different….. and not how I intended.  You know how when you begin to cut something and you realize that when you cut one side and then it is so incredibly uneven with the other side you then try to even it up only to find out that the other side is now longer? Well, I do…. and so does Moe.  His nice little beard and strategically fashioned head hair kept getting shorter and shorter until he looks like … well, he looks like ugly Moe.  I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because several have said he looks really nice… I can’t see beyond his resemblence to the dragon, Falcor, in “The Neverending Story”.  Regardless, Moe has opened the door for our spring changes… next spring job for me?  Get one of those tomato tree stands as seen on TV and get to work being thrifty with my garden.

There is no special secret to Moe’s haircut. It is something we do several times a year.  At least he is not ashamed like our old dog, Sam, who used to hide behind the couch for about a week after his haircut… Moe thinks he looks nice… he doesn’t need to know otherwise.

But  through all of this haircut event it just so happened that I was reading (Judges 13-16:31) and my memory  was refreshed of  the story of Samson.  I’m always amazed when I see stories that depict Samson as some great hero and so often that is how we teach his story to children. There was really nothing heroic about Samson’s healthy life… what I mean by that is during a time in his life when he was at his physical best he was also at his character worst…. he was spoiled, manipulative, greedy, loud mouthed, arrogant,  womanizing and violent… not qualities that make a great hero that you want your kids to emulate…It was through these character traits that Delilah came into the picture… her whining and manipulative ways placed him in a position to give away the secret of his strength… his hair… and then she cut it off ( much like the Moses P. Diddy look, I would assume)  It was after this humbling experience of losing his strength and being blinded that Samson had to depend on strength from God… he wasn’t the same guy he had been earlier… and it was his final act that was the heroic one… He prayed to God to give him the ability to use his strength to do what God had wanted him to do in the first place… now that is a a hero

So two things I learned from Samson

1. I learned that sometimes we have to be humbled in order for God to truly be able to work through us… with all of the strength that God had given Samson,  Samson was too busy worrying about the ladies and getting revenge that he wasn’t paying attention to what God was calling him to do… but God accomplished it anyway and Samson missed out on the good things because his focus wasn’t on God
2. I learned that no matter how lousy of a person we may have been at one point in our lives, God is a loving and forgiving God and can take that old person and create a new one… regardless of the circumstances.  Samson got rid of the Philistines… even though he was pretty much an arrogant jerk… God still listened to his prayers and gave him another chance …

So if God wants me to share his story or help someone and I am too focused on my life and my wants and desires… I might just be humbled and those who I am to help will still get my help only in a way that I hadn’t really expected or hoped to have to deal with…

So what is God preparing me for?  What is he asking me to depend on him for?  What am I risking because my focus is on something less than God?

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Now, as far as I know, Moe’s haircut means nothing other than the fact that he looks quite a bit less shaggy… but, I’m not tying him up between two load bearing walls in our house, if you know what I mean… better safe than sorry.