Shaving.

So apparently the last few days have been all about progress.  It started with standing (even if only briefly), then continued on with exercising and stretching of muscles, and now...?

I shaved my legs. 

I know, I know, you thought this day would never come (ahem, family).  Well, it has.

When each family member separately mentioned how hairy my legs were last week, I just sort of chuckled because I just took it as teasing, but when my grandma was grossed out, I knew it was time to forge ahead.  Can I just say how much I have enjoyed not having to shave my legs for three months?  I was kind of sad to have to finally have to give in to cultural and societal expectations, friends.  Some call it hygiene; I call it forced expectations on women.

I went through a phase a few years ago where I wouldn't shave for weeks, in quiet rebellion...well, actually it was kind of loud.  But I refused to put the blade to my leg because I felt pressure to do it.  I mean, who invented shaving in the first place?!  It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it, "Durrr...I'm gonna take a sharp razor blade and SCRAPE my lower extremities so that the hair gets CHOPPED off, and my legs look smooooooth.  Here, feel it."  Give me a break.

And I'm not being dramatic here, people.  This is serious!  I'm not kidding!  And!  My legs were FREEZING tonight!  Ice cold!  No joke.  The hair kept them insulated, and I just hacked it all off.

But, alas, my perspective on shaving changed today.  Rather than viewing it as a stupid, time-wasting routine & an unfair expectation that is placed on women in today's society, I saw it as rebirth.  As my dad's hair buzzer cut through each one of those suckers, I was actually glad to say goodbye.  My skin started peeking through, and I saw freckles that I haven't seen in months!  It was rather exciting.  I'll post pictures soon, so you can see my beastly legs. 

I have no idea how to tie this in with a passage.  No clue whatsoever.  There is this holy fear inside of me that doesn't dare tie "shaving rebirth" to the rebirth that Jesus talks about in John 3, but part of me really thinks it could work.  I mean, it's not the same thing, and you know that, so I'm gonna go for it.  Jesus is sitting (or standing) (I always imagined it on a rooftop), talking to a teacher-of-the-law-Pharisee, named Nicodemus.  Nick, we'll call him, acknowledges that Jesus is from God in the very beginning of the conversation, and they talk back and forth about rebirth.  I love it that the Bible allows you to eavesdrop.

In verse four, my buddy Nick says, "How can anyone be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"

Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit."

 (Hey!  That's what I talked about yesterday!  I didn't plan this, guys.  I'm not that organized...in case you were wondering...)

 Jesus goes on..."So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

I would like to encourage you to take five to seven minutes and go to the following link to read the whole conversation:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%203&version=MSG

Just highlight, copy, and paste into that magical little white rectangle. 

Rebirth is something that we submit to, and it is found only in Jesus.  When we see the invisible moving the visible, trusting that the wind is wind even though we can't see it - trusting Jesus even though we can't see him or touch him.  That's when we are reborn, our lives are made new.  I pray that God would increase the amount of trust that you have in him, whether it's absolutely nothing, or whether you would be willing to hop in a wheelbarrow and tight-rope across the Grand Canyon.

It's 2:30 am, and I've spent the last two hours watching Regis & Kelly bloopers.  I looked at my clock and I was like, "Oh wow, it's 12:30 already?  Whoa."  Then I did a double take.  "TWO THIRTY!?"  Yikes.  Time for bed, Fred.

Sleep well, dear ones!