The Promise

 

The Promise 

 

 

I have a complicated relationship with my hair.  In a given day, I fluctuate between loving my hair for all of it’s rich long presence, and then five minutes later hating my hair for that very same reason.  I love my hair when I’m going to an event and it cascades shiny curls down my back – it swirls and moves and makes me feel pretty and feminine.  I love it when I make two braids, and they obediently stay twined politely the whole day, or one single braid, and feel it moving and swinging like a pendulum. I love it when I pile it on top of my head, and it stays! Some days, it shines and shimmers and I love it – but then.... 

A good hair day! 2021

Some days I hate my hair.   I hate my hair when I’m trying to do almost anything and it seems to be intent on jumping into my mouth, eyes, face, or to fall directly into whatever I am doing.    The short bits fly around my head like crazy wind guys, leaping into my nose to itch it over and over until I strap it down with a headband or a scarf.  Some days, for no reason, it turns into a frizzy mess and no amount of hair spray helps.  it takes an hour to wash and condition and comb, and all day to dry.  If I put it into a braid while wet, it will still be damp inside at the end of the day when I loosen the braid.  It’s thick and heavy and definitely possesses a mind of its own.   

The Braid 2025

So you might ask – why have it?  Why have it grown out so long?  It doesn’t have to be so complicated!!  There are hair cutteries all over the city.  I could get it cut whenever I like, right?  And also.... 

....what does your HAIR have to do with Israel? 

For nine+ years I haven’t cut my hair – not at all.  Not a trim – not even to cut off some damaged, burned hair.  For the past 9+ years, I have not touched my hair with scissors or a razor – not at all – because of "the promise."   

I went to Israel for 10 days in 2016. On the plane heading back home, I was feeling sad and a little discombobulated.  I travel quite a bit, and I had never not wanted to go home from vacation before.   I was sitting on the plane and thinking about the haircut I had gotten right before I left – I started thinking about a Nazarite vow, and how they don’t cut their hair or drink wine for usually seven years.  As I thought these thoughts (it’s a very long flight) I thought about how much I wanted to return to Israel, and how I might move myself toward that goal. That’s when I made “the promise.”  I told the Father I would not cut my hair until I returned to The Land.  

To be fair, I was thinking two years – maybe three.  I certainly wasn’t thinking almost ten years would pass!  But life and grief and depression have ways of stretching the years, and so here we are.  I had only ever started growing my hair long-ish after I married Storm.  Until then, it was always shoulder length.  He never demanded that I grow long hair, but he expressed that he would like it, and in my great desire to please him, I grew it out, and he liked it.  But I would always get it cut once a year, maybe more – just to keep it nice.

Me with short hair - abt. 2006

 

When people think of someone who has not cut their hair in ten years, they picture Crystal Gale, with her lovely, shining long tresses. I used to envision that.  But in fact, not cutting my hair means that my new, soft hair at the top has virtually disappeared under itself.   My hair, once a beautiful long curtain, is now dry and much abused.  Menopause has come, and with it the dry hair and skin that seems characteristic.  It’s not that I haven’t tried to take care of it, but in nine years it’s had a few bad moments.  One time, I caught it in the motor of the weedeater, a sort of involuntary thinning. (ouch).  It has gotten too close to open flame a time or two, caught in doors and windows so it is all several different lengths.  It has also fallen into any number of unsavory substances, including latex paint, honey, and tree sap.  It has broken off one strand at a time, and sometimes more than that, from brushing or dryness or misfortune, so short tendrils float around my face like crazy windsock guys whenever a little breeze comes up.   

When I started "the promise," very little of my hair was grey.  Now, the top of my hair is clearly leaning toward white or gray, while my old, long hair is faded brown.  I feel like it looks much too long for a lady my age, and it’s not attractive, it weighs so much, and I’m not happy with it at all.   

A more cooperative day 2023

 

I have wanted to cut it many times.  I had even prayed that if I got all the way to ten years, I would consider the promise fulfilled and cut it, though I guess I won't know if I meant it.  Ten years is the number of fulfillment, completion, in the Bible.  My family and friends are very familiar with "the promise," and also familiar with listening to me gripe about it.  I haven't exactly born my burden without complaint.  :D  Nevertheless, if I had never actually had plans gone back, I probably would never have cut it.  I broke a few promises when I was young, and I didn't like myself very much.  There's also a Biblical reason.  The Bible holds a widow responsible for her vow, with no grace period.  This was not a vow which is a more formal matter than a promise, but the principle stands.  It's important this widow keeps her promises, or doesn't make them at all.  

So when I get to Israel, I plan to cut my hair short.  Very short. Probably not as short as I’ve ever had it, but certainly a lot shorter than it is now.  Ideally, I would like to cut my hair on a barren hill and then read the book of Lamentations, but I’m there with a group, and it may not fit into our agenda.   

Why on earth do I want to do something so ....weird...?? 

Because of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was a prophet of Jerusalem, Judah during the time just before they were taken captivity in Babylon.  In Jeremiah 7, he gives a scathing rebuke to Judah, warning them to stop their murdering and hypocrisy and abdominal behavior, repent and turn back to Yehovah/God. That it wasn’t enough to make sacrifices and burnt offerings, to just go through the motions, but you must OBEY the commandments.  Yehovah tells Jeremiah that the people won’t listen to him – that they won’t hear him – and he says this;  

Jeremiah 7:27 When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. 28 Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. 29 Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 

I see this happening in America today right now.  I’ve been a student of prophecy of all kinds for a long time.  Two years ago, I was reading through the book of Jeremiah when I read this, and I had been praying over whether I should try to afford to go to Israel, because it really is a financial burden, and likely one I can’t actually afford.  This passage tipped the decision for me.  As I see my nation disintegrating into chaos, as the workers of lawlessness reveal themselves and begin wielding their influence, as hearts harden and there are wars and rumors of wars, and all the world seems pulled into Israel, I will go and seek my god, and fulfill this promise, and pray the Lamentations wherever I can. 

Currently, as I watch the world’s events right now – as we watch nations behave in the way that Bible prophecy told us they would – as the prophecies I used to say had to come true before the end comes are now coming true, as I see America and UK and Canada and Australia descend into the same mess our ancestors in Israel once did, I long to scream, “REPENT!  REPENT!  THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR.”  However, like Jeremiah, even though people are shouting it, no one listens.  And so, I would like to venture to the top of a mountain or hill with a sharp pair of scissors, cut my hair, cast it to the wind, and speak the Lamentations.   I will explain to my group, and ask for their support, and accept whatever they say.

Likely, it will be nothing so dramatic.  I will probably find a pocket of time and go to a local hairdresser and get a proper haircut. In fact, I will do that whether I chop off my hair first or not, but I hope it works itself out so that I can do it my way.  

Today 1.18.2026

 Fond fairwell, long hair.   May I shout it to the world - repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near. 
Also, may I learn to be more careful making promises.