He chose the mess.
Perhaps you catch a glimpse of your imperfect reflection in the mirror and grimace at what you see. Exhaustion, stress, the result of a life lived with too many donuts and not enough sleep. Perhaps you look down on your well used body and see the signs of wear and tear. Life is not always easy. If you are a mom - life is messy. There are a million things to do and only so much energy in a given day. People are not perfect. We fail. We mess up. We cannot be perfect, neither can we create perfect people. This imperfection leaks out through the cracks, the chinks in the armor we so carefully craft.
When my children were running around in complete chaos at church, creating a mess all around them, God gave me this revelation; He chose the mess. He knew we, as a human race, would be a never ending saga of messes, but he chose us anyhow. He chose to create us, love us, redeem us.
When you decide to have children you are choosing the mess. Sure there's the physical mess - cheerios stuck to your pants, vomit on your shirt, snot on your shoulder. But more than that there is the mess of your complete and total mastery of your universe. Suddenly you find your schedule is not your own, your emotions are not your own, even your private time in the bathroom is no longer yours alone. Sometimes, in moments in public when I wish to disavow my children, I wonder if I am crazy. Why did I ever choose this messy chaotic life? I could have pretended so well to be holy, without these little people exposing my weak underbelly, calling out "Imposter!" to any finely polished exterior I might present. But what God spoke to me was this. He too chose the mess. He wanted kids. He wanted us.
So mess, it's pretty much in the heart of God. He has a special way of cleaning up messes, and in fact, turning them into something astoundingly beautiful. And really, if you look at your home the right way, if you can see past the gooey floors, the grimy walls and the smelly bathroom, you might just find that all the love, intimacy and connection going on there is actually something beautiful. It just happens to be camouflaged as a mess.
My friend's quote last night seems like an apt finish here, "If you take your mess, add it to my mess and sprinkle in Jesus, it's creates something beautiful."
When my children were running around in complete chaos at church, creating a mess all around them, God gave me this revelation; He chose the mess. He knew we, as a human race, would be a never ending saga of messes, but he chose us anyhow. He chose to create us, love us, redeem us.
When you decide to have children you are choosing the mess. Sure there's the physical mess - cheerios stuck to your pants, vomit on your shirt, snot on your shoulder. But more than that there is the mess of your complete and total mastery of your universe. Suddenly you find your schedule is not your own, your emotions are not your own, even your private time in the bathroom is no longer yours alone. Sometimes, in moments in public when I wish to disavow my children, I wonder if I am crazy. Why did I ever choose this messy chaotic life? I could have pretended so well to be holy, without these little people exposing my weak underbelly, calling out "Imposter!" to any finely polished exterior I might present. But what God spoke to me was this. He too chose the mess. He wanted kids. He wanted us.
So mess, it's pretty much in the heart of God. He has a special way of cleaning up messes, and in fact, turning them into something astoundingly beautiful. And really, if you look at your home the right way, if you can see past the gooey floors, the grimy walls and the smelly bathroom, you might just find that all the love, intimacy and connection going on there is actually something beautiful. It just happens to be camouflaged as a mess.
My friend's quote last night seems like an apt finish here, "If you take your mess, add it to my mess and sprinkle in Jesus, it's creates something beautiful."
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