Bare-faced truth…

I’ve had a beard for more than 25 years. I like it because I don’t have to shave every day and it gives me the illusion of having a chin. I do have a chin, of course; in fact, I have three or four, which a beard helpfully disguises. Still, sometimes you want to try something different. About a dozen years ago, we were going on a vacation through New Mexico and Colorado. I decided that, on the first night away from home, I would shave off the beard, try some of that Just For Men hair coloring to cover my gray hair, and comb my hair in a different way. My wife had never seen me beardless and neither had my three year old daughter. When I emerged clean-shaven from the bathroom, my little girl promptly burst into tears. It took a day or two before she felt comfortable around me. And as soon as we got back home, I let the beard grow back.
I was as uncomfortable as my daughter with my new look. I looked like someone going into the Witness Protection Program instead of the guy my little girl loved and trusted. That was the last time I tried to disguise my graying (now thinning) hair. And I have never again shaved my beard.
Because…what could be more frightening than not recognizing your father? Not much. That’s why I treasure the fact that my heavenly Father never changes. Oh, there have still been times when I didn’t quite recognize Him—times when I was trying to run things, times when I tried to do it all by myself. But that was because of a change in me, not a change in God. There are several hymns and scriptures which refer to God as our foundation, a solid rock, a supporting place on which we can stand. And when you need that foundation most, the rock does not change into sand or a sponge or a hole in the ground. Now that would be a close shave!