The Barber Shop

I had made an appointment about a week ago to get the haircut I got today.  As I was sitting there with hair falling all around me, I remembered how it used to be when the "ears needed lowering."  In the rural town I attended high school, there was a two chair barber shop.  It had one of those spinning peppermint candy poles outside the door.  Of course, no one made an appointment.  Men and boys just showed up and sat down to wait a turn.  No numbers were given at the door.  Each person in waiting knew who was there before he arrived and who came in after he took his chair.  I can never remember an argument over someone getting out of turn.  Not having an appointment meant waiting an hour or so for your turn, but no one seem to be mind.  There was plenty of interesting conversation.

 

As I sat there in the midst of my remembering, I knew that no one today would tolerate that kind of waiting for a haircut which is why appointments are given.  Perhaps, we have all gotten more important.  Or, maybe we just no longer have the time nor the patience to wait.  The truth is we are all in too big a hurry to go into a barber shop and sit patiently while three or four guys get haircuts ahead of us.  In a hurry is what we are.  And because we live in such a hurry we miss out on so much important stuff happening in the present moment.  One of the important things happening back in the days of the barber pole was a boy being in the room with other men talking about and doing men stuff.  This is just one of the things missed out on today because we are too busy to stay in the present moment.

 

The longer I live, the more in love I am with the present moment.  More than ever I have come to realize it is the gift God gives to us that will never be given again.  He gives it so that we might squeeze everything out of it.  The gift of the future may or may not be there.  What God gives He always gives to bless us.  It is sad that we are so busy running toward whatever is out there in the future that we miss out on the blessings of the Father who loves and provides for us what is needed for our present moment living.