September 7, 2021

“Dear Abby, dear Abby / My feet are too long / My hair's falling out and my rights are all wrong / My friends they all tell me that I've no friends at all / Won't you write me a letter, won't you give me a call / Signed bewildered”

That’s from the late, great John Prine’s Dear Abby. Abby’s response? “You are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t.” If this is you writing this letter, I suppose you could go out and buy this year’s model of How to Win Friends and Influence People. Or buy Mr. Ray’s Hair Weave. 

Or you could sit back and listen to Abby. Your hair will still fall out, but you might realize that bald is sexy. And when you stop trying to win friends, you will have a least a few pals over to watch Monday Night Football.

You are what you are and you aint what you aint. (Fortunately or unfortunately, that goes for him/her too.) Humor sure helps. And so does the Bible, which encourages to offload the whole self-scrutiny project onto God. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” (Jeremiah 17:7)

“Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 18 – BCP)