Life is Messy

When my husband went on a recent business trip I found I was able to tidy the house more quickly. There was only one dirty bathroom towel, one set of dishes to wash; one pair of shoes by the couch to put away; one cup left on the end table to pick up, etc, etc.  And that got me thinking, not about whether my husband and I are neat or messy, but about how life itself is messy, and how the more people we allow into it the messier it gets.

Schedules get “messed” up as the needs of others become more pressing.  Personalities and the various temperaments of others can jolt or grate us.  We may have to put up with inconveniences, extra fatigue, petty annoyances.  Just like Jesus did. 

Sometimes I need reminding. I’m a person of order, schedules.  I make lists that I like to check off.  If I have a goal I want to accomplish it without interruption. But I also want to be like Jesus, and that means letting others into my life, and that makes for a mess. 

When I think of the gospels and how Jesus always gave so freely of himself I get a glimpse of the life He wants for each of us.  It’s not a life of lists and uninterrupted routine, but a life where we are open to the people he brings across our path, open to the opportunities of showing His love or sharing His word. It’s sometimes easy for me to miss these opportunities as I bustle around trying to keep my life in order. And while God is certainly a God of order, He showed us, through Jesus who was ever ready to minister to the people who came to Him, that it’s not a sterile kind of order, but an order that thrives on love and caring and giving.

Until next week,

Sylvia