Do you ever let things go? Sometimes, depending on the season, I let things go. In the winter, I let the yard go; my Koi pond and the back patio just sat there. By the time spring rolls around, it is all a mess. That is what happens when you do not pay attention to things … they get messy. In this season, isolation unwittingly forces us to pay attention to the messy parts of our lives that are staring us in the face.
For some, the mess is truly staring you in the face … your hair. From needing more than a little cut to screaming for some color, some of you are going to great lengths (pun intended) to solve the problem and some are finding the solution worse than the problem. You get the clippers, the scissors, and you are full of excitement as you begin to tackle your overgrown coif. Hair flying everywhere, a little here, a little there, shorter, shorter, too short … too late. Oh well. It will grow back. What a mess. But the good news is that God is right there in our mess.
In this season, we are seeing our mess up close and personal. For some of us, that scares us. We do not know what to do … except to draw near to Jesus, the One who is with us in our mess. And then, there is the mess that others are going through, and we do not know how to engage them, or how to help. We step into neighboring, loving where we live tentatively, secretly hoping it will not be messy. We want good friends, a loving community, and easy, comfortable, enjoyable conversations. And at first, that is probably what we get. But as we love where we live, as we grow deeper in our friendships and deeper in our capacity for love, concern, compassion for others, we will inevitably find the mess. All we know is to bring the messy lives of our neighbors, friends, and family before the One who is here in the midst of the mess with us … Jesus.
The good news is that God uses messy people like you and me. He meets us in our mess and ironically, that same mess can bring us closer to God and to others. In The Message translation, Romans 8:3 says, “God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.” God loved a messy world enough to move toward it.
Following God’s example, we can move toward our neighbors and friends to share our message of healing, forgiveness, hope, and love. Because God entered our mess, we have a message to share with others. We can love where we live and bless those around us with the good news of the Messiah … and that makes our mess worth it.
This Week: Use the acronym, “BLESS this Mess” to love where you live.
Begin with praying for your neighbors.
Listen to their stories of life, pain, & struggle.
Enjoy food, conversation and connection.
Serve them in real ways.
Share your messy life and your Messiah story.
-Dr. J