This Thanksgiving season may be messy in your life. Perhaps you feel YOU. ARE. THE. MESS. My mentor would graciously remind me, “Darlin’, you are definitely a mess…but you are GOD’S mess and He specializes in making messes into masterpieces.” Like taking a big exhale, isn’t it encouraging to be reminded that God can make His most beautiful masterpieces out of broken crayons—broken people, broken circumstances? For moms, sometimes what messes with us most is when our childrens’ lives are messy. Our youngest daughter, Tress, beautifully wraps words around her mess and the rest we can each enjoy this Thanksgiving (and every season) when we simply give God thanks that He is with us IN our mess.
life. is. messy. one day you’re 5, running around with your best friends, barefoot, wild and free. scraping hands, knees. falling in the dirt knowing the people surrounding you will pick you up and help dust you off. next thing you know, you’re 25 still running around with the same people, with some tightly woven additions. not as wild and free as before but still trying. except this time it’s not scraped hands and knees, it’s busted hearts, souls and bodies. dreams that crashed and burned. you’ve not fallen into the dirt but a much deeper, dark space that is much harder to brush yourself off from. your clothes aren’t stained from dirty handprints from playing too hard. now it’s your heart that has metaphorical handprints from the people you’ve let in.
life is messy. it’s harder than you could ever imagine. but it’s also one of a kind and chaotically beautiful and lovely. the last minute adventures, the sunset chases that turn into stargazing nights, the chats that cause your breath to catch with emotions that can’t be put into words. the stupid jokes that cause tears to stream down your face. that song you can’t get out of your head. the natural beauty that makes time stand still. the friends that have walked through the pain and dark time and time again, and consistently pick you up, dust you off and help you take that next step forward. the quiet silence where no words are needed, that perfectly timed text, the hug that binds hearts.
life is real messy. and so are we. we get hurt, we mess up, we fall short daily, we’re tatted, torn, tired, broken, stained- messy. but in all that mess, i’ve been reminded that the lord chooses us. regardless of the mess, despite it- in it… he chooses to love us with all our mess. He desperately waits for us to stop trying to clean our mess up on our own and lay it all at his feet to rest and find true joy in him alone. and that just might be the most beautiful thing of all.
“Give thanks IN all circumstances for this is God’s will for you IN Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
If you and your daughter(s) are God’s messes too, check out our Heart of Womanhood Bible studies @ www.heartofwomanhood.org. By living thankfully together, we will find joy watching God take our messy lives and make us into masterpieces for His Glory!
