This morning I washed my hair for the first time in 4 days.

Though this information might not seem worthy of a newsflash, it might explain why every 3-4 days you see me in hats.  No, I am not trying to be trendy—I am trying to hide the grease disaster that no one needs to witness.  I also shaved my legs and armpits for the first time in a week.  Usually I wait until they're long and soft, floating softly in the breeze.  (I know.  Ewwww).  There's a peach fuzz unibrow forming between my eyes, and a blond mustache beginning to show at the top of my lip.  One of these days I'll grab hubs razor and take care of that.  Oh, and let's not forget the shellac toenail polish I peeled off of my toes last night in the bathtub.  It seemed like a fun thing to do and proved to be so with little pieces of pink floating around in my bath water.

Between the waxing, polishing, plucking, shaving, blowdrying, curling, shopping, makeup, and punctuation week (yep, that's what Studhubs calls ‘that time of the month'), being a woman in Western culture takes A LOT OF TIME.  If I added up the hours, I wonder how many weeks and months I've spent simply getting ready to walk out the door.

Sometimes, I find myself fighting envy as my hubby rolls out of bed, his scruffy face more sexy than unkempt.  As he throws on the clothes on the floor by his side of the bed and quickly puts on his contacts, he's ready to go in 5 flat, still looking like a rockstar.

This morning while blow drying my freshly washed hair, detesting the minutes I felt I was wasting (knowing I still have to curl my clean locks, apply a face full of makeup, and figure out something to wear), a thought hit me.

Beauty always requires process.

Does a flower immediately pop into bloom?  There are days, sometimes weeks, where seeds become roots, roots become stems, stems form leaves and bulbs, and THEN bulbs blossom into beautiful color.

Does a painting burst into being?  There's careful stroke after stroke of a paintbrush, mixing colors and paints, stepping back to take another look, meticulous craftsmanship before it's displayed beautifully for the world to see.

Does a sunset instantly paint the sky with breathtaking colors?  The sun takes a whole day to give it's grand finale, lowering moment by moment to fill the heavens with reds, pinks, oranges, purples and blues.

We love the ending.  We love looking in the mirror and seeing the finished product of all our work.  We love feeling beautiful.

We love filling our homes with bouquets of flowers, artwork, and opening our windows wide to let the sunset in.  But sometimes, we need to reminded that the process is how we get to the thing that we love.

I know I needed to be reminded of that today.

As I stood with my hair dryer blasting, pondering this truth, I decided to change my ‘get ready strategy.'

Instead of hating the process, I started to worship.  Thank you God that I have hair.  Lots of beautiful hair.  Thank you God that I have great hair products that make my straight-as-a-board hair do things it genetically shouldn't be allowed to do.  Thank you God that I have a best friend who teaches me how to put on makeup.  Thank you God for my beautiful skin, my eyes that still see 20/20, my full set of teeth, and my ears that can hear.  Thank you God for my arms that allow me to get ready in the morning.

And while we're talking, God, what do you think about…….

Instantly, the process became beautiful.  And something I usually don't look forward to became a point of relationship, communion, and interaction with the Guy who not only invented beauty, but also invented the process it takes to get there.

When you're communing with the Inventor, the process becomes the goal.  The journey is the destination.

And beauty is always the result.

YOUR TURN:

Take a moment and think about one process you're in.  How can you shift your perspective to enjoy the journey towards beauty?

The more you appreciate the process, the more peace you feel, the more joy you'll find, and the more beauty you'll release.

xx,