Have you ever attempted to do something only to realize you don’t really know where to start?

That was me the other day when I was staring down the hedge in front of our house.

We hadn’t trimmed it all year and, to be honest, this is a job that my wife, Lily, usually does. What I was looking at was kind of new to me. I didn’t know where to start.

I got the feeling of what it would be like to cut someone’s hair for the first time. 

It looks pretty simple when the barber/hairstylist gives you a trim. But if you had to do it, well, that would be a different thing.

That’s why so many kids got the bowl cut when they were young. 

You know, when your mother would pick an appropriate sized bowl for your head and then just cut around it. You hoped your mom had the philosophy of one size fits all.

I also remember when they came out with the flow bee. It was a vacuum cleaner with some sharp blades at the end of the tube. 

The idea of these, and probably other crazy haircutting ideas, was to make cutting hair simple and quick. 

The problem with them was they left your melon very unattractive. Nobody ever mistook a bowl cut or a flow bee do for a real haircut. 

The reason is there is more to cutting hair than just going at it with a pair of scissors.

However, the other day when I was looking at our hedge, that is exactly what I was about to do – just go at it with the hedge trimmer.

What I didn’t want was my neighbours driving by thinking, “Wow, Paul really put a bowl cut on his hedge.” I was wishing I had taken some kind of barber class, so I had the theory behind getting a good shape on the shrub.

When you think about it, there is a lot of similarities with trimming a head and trimming a hedge.

First you have to cut them, then you have to comb them to make sure you get all the cut hair or stems out of it. Then you have to go back and trim any loose pieces and make sure it is properly shaped. Sometimes you have to do a little more tapering. 

The only thing you don’t do with a hedge is spray it down or put some gel in it to make sure everything stays in place.

Well, I started in on the hedge and though I’m not an expert hedge barber yet, I don’t think I did half bad. 

One thing about the hedge that makes it a little harder than cutting hair is that you are dealing with something that is six to ten feet wide, and not six or seven inches. It’s not easy getting both sides looking the same. 

Anyway, I have a new appreciation for hairstylists.

Here’s the thing: When someone has a desire to read the Bible, it’s not easy to figure out where to start. It’s not like a novel so you don’t have to start at the beginning and read to the end, though I do that every year. Starting in the Book of John will give you a good sense of what God’s desire is for us and how Jesus is key to accomplishing it. From there you can dabble in other parts to get rounded out on the beginning and ending of His creation. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Where do you need to start on something today?

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