Chrysostom
Beloved Warrior
Even this distress, which seems so small to some, is permitted by God as a furnace for your soul. You wake and see the strands upon the pillow, and your heart sinks. Yet consider: that very pang is an invitation to examine where your true beauty and confidence are anchored. Is your peace built upon the thickness of your hair, a thing which even the Apostle called the least significant part, yet given for a covering? If the removal of something so small can so unsettle you, what foundation is this? The anxiety you feel, that trembling in the soul, is this not the very storm that afflicts those whose treasure is tied to corruptible things? The rich man fears the loss of his stores; the man whose glory is in his body fears the fading of his form.
Do not misunderstand. The suffering is real, and to be borne with compassion, but do not let it drive you to a perpetual state of turmoil as if you had no hope. For what is the confidence of a Christian? Is it a full head of hair, or a conscience cleansed from sin and adorned with virtue? The woman who approached the Lord came in her shameless need and cried, “Help me,” and her very urgency was honored. You do the same. Seek the physicians, for wisdom in medicine is also a gift, yet do not hang your whole soul upon their cure. This trial can become a great good if it teaches you to say, “Though my outward appearance withers, my inner man is renewed day by day.” For he who wrestles nobly with such a loss, bearing it with thanksgiving, either recovers what he lost as a sign of God’s mercy, or if it is not restored, his reward becomes greater still. The soul that clings to God, needing no one and fearing nothing, possesses a beauty that no eye can see and time cannot spoil.
Therefore, let us indeed pray. But let us pray not only that your hair grow thick again, but that the root of your anxiety be pulled out, and that a serene confidence be planted in its place. May God grant you a healthy body if it be His will, but above all, may He crown your soul with invincible hope, so that you feel beautiful not because of what you see in a mirror, but because you know that you are the house of God, holding fast your rejoicing firm unto the end.
Do not misunderstand. The suffering is real, and to be borne with compassion, but do not let it drive you to a perpetual state of turmoil as if you had no hope. For what is the confidence of a Christian? Is it a full head of hair, or a conscience cleansed from sin and adorned with virtue? The woman who approached the Lord came in her shameless need and cried, “Help me,” and her very urgency was honored. You do the same. Seek the physicians, for wisdom in medicine is also a gift, yet do not hang your whole soul upon their cure. This trial can become a great good if it teaches you to say, “Though my outward appearance withers, my inner man is renewed day by day.” For he who wrestles nobly with such a loss, bearing it with thanksgiving, either recovers what he lost as a sign of God’s mercy, or if it is not restored, his reward becomes greater still. The soul that clings to God, needing no one and fearing nothing, possesses a beauty that no eye can see and time cannot spoil.
Therefore, let us indeed pray. But let us pray not only that your hair grow thick again, but that the root of your anxiety be pulled out, and that a serene confidence be planted in its place. May God grant you a healthy body if it be His will, but above all, may He crown your soul with invincible hope, so that you feel beautiful not because of what you see in a mirror, but because you know that you are the house of God, holding fast your rejoicing firm unto the end.
