Embracing the Mess

The mounting laundry...

 Last week I took pictures of my messy home.  I was feeling like a broken record, "Put it away, who's toy is this?, where does it go, and who left that out?"  Argh.... my impatience and weariness of mind was rearing it's ugly head once again.


The messy bedroom...

I, without any success, try to use a math equation to explain how our home gets out of order so quickly:  such as there are nine of us now...  If each person leaves only 5 things out of place, that's 45 items strewn about!  Yikes, 5 doesn't seem like much but when you apply it to nine people, that's crazy messy!

The cluttered living room...

Card games, e-mail, books, loves and hugs and snuggles, what else is a living room for?

Our bundle of joy...completely unaware of the mess...

 Enter, stage center, snuggly bunny, suddenly all the mess is forgotten and the joy of the peaceful moment of sweet sleep engulfs everyone.  He mesmerizes each one of us with his perfect innocence.  How could one so small make our world stop?  We care for his every need and our thoughts constantly turn towards him in anticipation of his will.  What will make him happy, help him to feel loved and confident, what sort of little boy will he become, what are his tastes, his hopes and his dreams, all wrapped up for the future to come?  Did Mary, the mother of Jesus ponder any of these same questions? 

My how fast he has grown....upon closer examination...it's big sister!

 Fast forward to only two years down the road and some of the excitement of having a new one in the house fades doesn't it?  With days filled with power struggles and fit throwing and the "I do it myself," attitude it becomes very faded, very quickly.  Whining, crying, and placing their will above your own, as the authority of your own home...

How does a family redeem the moments of beauty and peace once again?  Does it have to be this way?  Yes, it's part of the mess mankind has put himself into from the dawn of time... think Cain and Able and the destruction of anger and exertion of self will to the harm and damage of others. 

Something changes in the life of your children when you begin to notice the clash of wills.  It's normal, it's healthy and it's apart of growing up.  The challenge is how to redeem and reestablish peace and order in those relationships.  Look at how God does it and learn. 

What did God do to redeem His people?  What did He do to bring beauty and peace?  He uses different forms of love and discipline simultaneously all down throughout the ages.  He banished Cain but yet gave him his freedom.  God held him personally responsible for his actions.  Through natural consequences, man and child learns much.

God banished Adam and Eve from the garden, but gave them their freedom and held them personally responsible for their actions, then passed 100's of years and Noah.... "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  Genesis 6:5

God provided a boat and a big world wide flood as punishment.  No more loving discipline, no more patience, it was the appointed time for "do-overs."  Do you remember that term as an oft heard playground holler from the lips of a child, "I want do-overs."  It's like starting again fresh without any marks against you.  It's a plead for grace.

Only God in His perfection could punish and give grace at the same time!  Amazing.  All throughout the Bible we get lessons in love, forgiveness, repentance, and "do-overs." 

All throughout the Bible we see God's redeeming grace and it's beautiful and ugly all at the same time but the thread that remains is love and forgiveness despite mankind's stupidity.  It continues today.  For the person who trusts and believes that Jesus is the Son of God, that His death on the cross was complete payment for all of mankind's sin and that His burial and resurrection is proof of the authenticity of His claim as God, SALVATION is happening right now! 

God still hold's us personally responsible for our own wrong doing, but at the same time, He has banished us and our sins from His sight as always, and as always, the only way back is through beginning a personal relationship through Himself and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

This is the good news!

It's a cycle of repentance, love and forgiveness all over again.  Not much changes all down throughout history.  It doesn't matter how old you are or what sin you're immersed in, He can and will deliver. 

For those who will trust Him today and those who've trusted Him a long time or a short while, the promise is this, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."  II Thess. 5:9-11

I had to view my own blog just to see when the last post was made.... in June...what happened?  Oh, you know, the usual.... new baby, remodeling the house, overtime at work, seven kids, camp, life, and did I mention.... MESS and feeling completely overwhelmed?

It is well with my soul because Jesus Christ has already won against rulers, powers and authorities.  He conquered death once and for all.  To live and die is to gain.  We can't lose.  Isn't this amazing to think about.  He is coming back again and we are to remind one another daily of our glorious future all the while validating these present moments.  What a reality check to know that God has everything under His control, for His glory and our good.

So, GO and embrace the mess in your life and the lives of others and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did it for you.  Call upon His name right now while it is yet today.  He is their waiting for you.

P.S.  I turned 40 this month and for my Birthday my dearest friend from Canada put my Tea Devotional in PFD file and took pictures and did all the graphics for the new version and posted a handy button.  Check it out if you haven't already, it's cute and printable and way more easy to access than before. Tea Time Devotional  Enjoy!