Addison and her beautiful long hair.
Written by: Rebecca Holsapple
Written by: Rebecca Holsapple
It was a beautiful autumn day; Addison was
looking out the window to the beautiful sunshine and all the leaves changing
colors. It was the first day of the third week of school. She was excited about
going more then she had been in quite some time, because today was a special
day.
Addison was going to go in front of the whole
school along with the other members of the school council. Just last Friday,
she had been chosen as president of the 5th grade. Her friends
thought that her leadership skills and her strong sense of moral and ethics
would make her the best candidate. They all encouraged her to campaign, after a
bit of convincing, she accepted.
She had made posters and given a couple of
speeches to all the 5th grade classes. To her surprise, even though
she was not the most popular student at the school, especially since she was
Christian and often got teased about it; she had won!
Two other 5th graders had
applied for the job, Joe Carter and Mary Stevens. Joe had been nice about her winning; he had
come and shook her hand, congratulated her and wished her good luck. Mary, on
the other hand had been quite upset, she refused to even speak to Addison and
said mean things loudly to a big group of girls about her outfit the day of the
election. Addison had pretended not to hear, but it had hurt her feelings.
When
she told her mom about it later that night her mom told her that jealousy can
make people act badly. Addison really hoped Mary had cooled down over the
weekend, and they could get along again.
Addison picked out her outfit carefully;
she wanted to look nice to be in front of the whole school. She picked her
favorite jean skirt and a beautiful teal sweater her mom had bought her just
last week. She usually put her hair up for school, her mom wanted to make sure
it wouldn’t get tangled while she played outside at recess or in PE class, but
she thought today would be a good day to keep her hair down. She brushed her
long brown hair nicely, pulled the front back and put a flower in it.
Addison ran downstairs to eat breakfast
and her parents prayed with her that everything would go smoothly and that Mary
would be nice to her, and that if she wasn’t Addison would have a good
attitude and that God would give her the right words to deal with it. Addison felt much better after the prayer; God was with her, who could be against her?
She put on her jacket, grabbed her book
bag, said good bye to her mom and dad. Her younger sister Renee followed her to the bus stop.
When she got on the bus, she spotted her
good friend Annie who was waving for her to sit with her. Something was odd
though, she could tell people were whispering about her. She wondered if it was
because of the council presentation. She pretended not to notice and went to
sit by Annie. They had been friend since
third grade when Addison had started going to this school. Annie was not a
Christian but she loved Addison’s faith and always wanted to learn more about
it.
“Addison, you look beautiful with you hair
down! I always forget just how long it is!! I wish mine was like that!” said
Annie with a big smile on her face.
“Oh thanks! I wasn’t thinking about the
fact that since coming to this school I never wore my hair down, people are
bound to be surprised…” said Addison with a
bit of a worried look.
“I’m sure it will be fine, who wouldn’t
think it’s simply gorgeous?!” Annie gave Addison a side hug.
“Are you ready to go in front of the whole
school?”
“I am! I wrote my speech this weekend, my
mom helped me. I am excited to see what will happen.” said Addison.
“You will do great, I am sure!” said Annie. Addison was so thankful to have such a sweet friend.
Before they knew it they were pulling up to
the school. Everyone was to gather in the auditorium very first period.
Addison prayed all the way to her locker, she put her jacket and book bag away
and made her way to the auditorium, still praying as she went. It was exciting
and nerve-racking at the same time. She had butterflies in her stomach.
When she got there she saw that there were 12
chairs on the stage and the 5th one from the left had her name on
it. Several of the other presidents were already seated up there. She made her
way to her chair, sat down and waited.
She scanned the students already sitting in the auditorium; she saw a
few friendly faces, and her younger sister Renee was waving at her with a great big smile full of pride on her face. Addison smiled back. Then her gaze came across one very
mean face. That one stood out. Mary Stevens was not happy.
Addison prayed quietly that things would
go smoothly and tried to get the image of Mary’s angry face out of her mind.
The first 4 presidents said their speeches. Now, it was her turn. She went up
and read off of her paper and glanced at the audience from time to time,
purposefully avoiding a certain spot. Addison told them what her plans were
for the year, what she was going to try to improve and what she wanted to make
sure they did. When she was done everyone clapped and she again said a quiet a
prayer of thanks. God was always with her, what a comfort!
The rest of the meeting when smoothly and
the bell rang announcing it was time for second period. Everyone went to their
lockers and headed for class.
Addison sat down in the front row for
English class. As she was opening her book to the page written on the board she
felt someone grab her hair. She turned to see who it was, but before she could
even see her face, Mary was pulling her hair. Pain streamed through Addison’s
scalp and tears weld up in her eyes. What a mean thing to do.
Then Mary started talking very loudly for the
whole class to hear. “Can you believe Addison’s hair?! Oh my! I would die if
my hair ever got that long! What do you think they invented scissors for, you
weird girl! It’s not enough that you have to wear skirts all the time, now you
have to flaunt your ugly long hair. I think we need to start calling you
President Weirdo! What do you all think? Hahahaha! ”
A
couple of Mary’s good friends joined in on the mockery, and as it sadly usually
goes when people make fun, most of the class joined in in the insults.
“I bet she thinks she is better than us,
that’s why she doesn’t want to wear pants and have normal hair; we shouldn’t
have voted her in as president in the first place. Well I should say you shouldn’t have, I voted for Mary!” said another girl.
Annie who was sitting by Addison, she stood
up and told everyone to be quiet and leave her friend alone.
Just then, the teacher walked in and
everyone pretended nothing happened. All except for Addison who had tears
running down her cheeks. The teacher asked what was wrong but Addison decided
not to say anything.
The rest of the day Addison avoided Mary as
much as she could; she stayed away from her at recess and made sure to sit as
far as she could at lunch. She kept praying about what she should do, she was
hurt and upset.
On the way home, the girl sitting in front
of her in the school but turned to face her.
“Hi, I’m Suzie; I was in the English class this morning. I’m sorry about
what happened.”
“That’s ok, Suzie, it wasn’t your fault.”
said Addison.
“Maybe not, but I shouldn’t have sat there
and let them keep going. I know better than that. I did want to ask you though, I have been
thinking about it all day. Why is your hair so long? Don’t you cut it?” Suzie
had a puzzled look on her face.
“No I don’t” said Addison.
Suzie looked surprised. “I think it’s
beautiful and it looks really healthy, but why don’t you cut it?”
“The Bible says that my hair is my glory. I
keep my hair long to show that I am in submission to God.”
“Wow! This is the first time I’ve ever
heard anything like that! I’d love to learn more, but this is my stop. I’ll
talk to you tomorrow!” Suzie got up and walked out of the bus. Addison waved
at her out of the window and Suzie waved back with a smile.
As she was riding the rest of the way home,
Addison got to thinking people probably just didn’t understand why her hair
was so long. Maybe this whole ordeal with Mary was not so bad after all. Maybe
God was using it so that Suzie could learn more about Him.
After getting home, Addison told her mom
and dad about her day. How it went well for the most part, but how Mary
attacked her in English class. They were proud of her for keeping her cool.
Then she told them how Suzie asked questions on the way home from school.
“I think maybe it was all so Suzie could
learn something about the Lord and what we believe, what do you think ?“ said Addison.
“You just may be right honey. I am so glad
you are being a witness for Christ, with a godly attitude and with your hair
and the way you dress. Your mom and I are so proud of you!” said Dad.
“Thanks Dad. I will talk to Suzie some more
tomorrow and tell her more about it if she wants to.” Addison was happy. Even
though her day had not gone so well, she had done the right thing, and was
getting to talk about the Lord with a new friend.
The next morning, Addison sat alone
and when Suzie got on the bus she came to sit with her.
“Hi Addison! How are you?” Suzie was
smiling.
“Good! How about you?” asked Addison.
“I’m doing great! I’ve been thinking about
your hair all evening and I even talked about it with my mom. She said she
didn’t even know some people don’t cut their hair. I told her I would ask you
more about it today!”
“I’m happy to tell you whatever you want to
know.” said Addison.
“Ok, well first of all, what does it mean
that your hair is your glory? You said that yesterday and I don’t get it.”
“It means that God gave me long hair as a
sign that I am His child. It’s a symbol of His glory. All through the Bible
having long hair is a sign of being under God’s authority. Having long hair is
to show that I am consecrated to every word of God. It’s a vow. “Addison said.
“I understand it now. Addison, I am so
impressed with you. I love that you know what you believe and why you do what
you do. I’d love to learn more!” said Suzie.
“I
love the Lord, and that’s what you see, that’s why I do what I do. That’s why I
follow his commands. Would you and your mom like to come to church with us this
Sunday?” Addison smiled.
“I would love to, let me ask my mom
tonight, and I will let you know.” Said Suzie.
Addison was so happy. It was hard to have
people make fun of her and be mean, but she knew God had a plan for her to talk
to Suzie about Him. She is on the earth to be a witness to others and she was
so happy she was getting to do just that. For the next several days Suzie and Addison hung out a lot and talked about the Lord. Suzie and her mom decided to
accept the invitation to come to church.
The End
1 Corinthians 11:15
But if a woman have long hair, it is a
glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
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