Before we left on our whirlwind trip to France two weeks ago, Anne and I had to confront the fact that we hadn’t finished doing everything that needed to be done before we left. For example, I never got around to making a proper packing list, which was a little stressful. I tried to make it better by reminding myself that people have been living in France for thousands of years without any of my stuff, so if I forgot to pack something I’d probably be able to figure out a way to manage. Anne never made it to the salon for a pre-trip haircut, so she told herself that she’d just have to get coiffed in France.
Anne’s hair solution came with a hitch, however. There were a lot of salons in Evian, the town where we were staying, and how does a person choose which salon is the right one when one is only passing through and doesn’t really speak that much French anyway? We spent a bit of time sizing up various salons, trying to guess which one would provide a good haircut, and trying to discern which was more like a Super Cuts operation. Personally, I would have given up and waited to get my hair cut at home. And that might have happened, except that on our last day in Evian we went to the train station to make reservations for our journey to Paris and the woman who helped us with our tickets was really nice and she had good hair. She spoke English, so Anne asked her where to get her hair cut in Evian.
Before long, women working in various capacities in the train station got involved in the conversation. The gathered council of women arrived at a consensus opinion: Nadine over at N & C Salon on the far side of Evian, a part of town we had yet to explore.
So that’s where Anne went. She got a good haircut, but more than that she had a great time. Nadine was kind, and she brought in her English-speaking daughter to translate. Together the three women had a lovely time together, all of which was made possible because Anne was willing to connect with a train station employee as more than just a seller of tickets.
By reaching out to the ticket seller as a human being who got her hair cut, Anne created a community for herself in Evian, and it strikes me that we should be doing this everywhere we go. We should think of the random people we meet–wait staff, cashiers, people walking their dogs, fellow drivers on the road–as human beings with needs and wants similar to our own. And when we do, we will create community, and in that community will encounter Christ.
And, as a bonus, we might get a good haircut.
Peace,
Ben