Upbraideth Not!

A few hours after church yesterday I got a call from a cute little black lady in our ward. Her name is Renee. She is probably in her late thirties and is the sweetest little thing. She carries a different picture each week, usually a flower that she has drawn, in a Wal-Mart bag and gives it to someone that is visiting ,or someone she thinks needs a little extra happiness in their day. The other thing is that she clearly has some mental and social disablities.

The first thing she said to me in her sweet southern drawl was, "Now I love ya and I don't want ya to be mad at me ya hear? So don't me mad, ya hear? Are ya gonna be mad?" I assured her that I wouldn't be mad. She then quoted a James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and UPBRAIDETH NOT; and it shall be given him. "

Then she said, "The Lord is not happy with you. He loves you, but you been braidin' your girls' hair and He don't like that, ya hear! He says, upbraideth not. Now ya gotta stop doin' those braids. Now don't be mad, ya know I love ya like a daughter." I tried to cut in and tell her I wan't upset, but she went on and on about how she and Jesus loved me, and how she loved my daughters' hair, except of course when it was in braids. It was all I could do to hold back my laughter! I maybe should have helped her understand what that scripture really meant, but I didn't know what to say at the moment. I'll either have to explain it to her later or stop braiding my kids' hair for church:)

Since I was on the subject of hair I thought I'd add a picture of Tagg. I recently decided to grow his hair out and discovered his beautiful curls! I have no idea where they came from.