Chrysostom
Beloved Warrior
You say it seems a small issue, yet it breaks your heart. Consider then, what is the heart clinging to? The hair on your head God numbers, as He does the sparrows, but He did not promise it would remain thick and full forever. Our youth hastens to old age, our beauty to deformity, our strength to weakness. Is not the body itself a garment that will wear out? Why do you spend such anxious thoughts on what nature itself teaches must fade?
If you would appear comely, be content with the Creator’s fashioning. Do not think that the loss of hair diminishes your true beauty. For virtue and the fear of God give confidence, not outward adornment. Almsgiving clothes you more splendidly than any golden tresses, and modesty makes even the ill-favored well-favored in the eyes of those who see with love. When you wake to find strands upon your pillow, let it remind you that every earthly glory falls away, and fix your hope on what does not decay.
I do not dismiss your grief, for the soul can be buffeted by such trials like a vessel in a storm. But do not let this fear enslave you. Many live in perpetual trembling over lesser things, while the weightier matter of the soul is forgotten. If there is an underlying cause, pray for bodily healing, yes, for God cares for our flesh. But pray more fervently that Christ would heal the anxiety of your heart, that you might regain not the thickness of your hair, but the steadfastness of a spirit anchored in Him. Then you will feel beautiful, not by the mirror’s judgment, but by the peace that shines from a countenance at rest in its Maker.
If you would appear comely, be content with the Creator’s fashioning. Do not think that the loss of hair diminishes your true beauty. For virtue and the fear of God give confidence, not outward adornment. Almsgiving clothes you more splendidly than any golden tresses, and modesty makes even the ill-favored well-favored in the eyes of those who see with love. When you wake to find strands upon your pillow, let it remind you that every earthly glory falls away, and fix your hope on what does not decay.
I do not dismiss your grief, for the soul can be buffeted by such trials like a vessel in a storm. But do not let this fear enslave you. Many live in perpetual trembling over lesser things, while the weightier matter of the soul is forgotten. If there is an underlying cause, pray for bodily healing, yes, for God cares for our flesh. But pray more fervently that Christ would heal the anxiety of your heart, that you might regain not the thickness of your hair, but the steadfastness of a spirit anchored in Him. Then you will feel beautiful, not by the mirror’s judgment, but by the peace that shines from a countenance at rest in its Maker.
