Each Friday a group of women flow to the blog of Lisa-Jo Baker to receive a specific writing prompt.
The prompt is just one word. A word to spark an idea in our heads. At the start of a timer we have no more than five minutes to string together an array of words – bursting forth from the corners of our minds. It’s a lesson that teaches us to let go of perfection and embrace the idea of writing. No editing. Just raw words to step across the pages of our blogs and out into the streets of a virtual world to be shared with others.
This week, the prompt is “Mess” and you’ll find it here. So link up and join the fun!
Mess
Start.
Some of the biggest messes in my house have been caused by bowls of honey-drizzled Rice Krispies falling to the hardwood floor, butter covered banana bread shoved in between the couch cushions and an upset stomach in the back seat of my van.
Let’s be real. Having four children allows for plenty of messes in my life.
But I can clean up those messes easily enough. There’s nothing a bit of soap and water can’t do for the average mess of a child. Oh, alright – the upset stomach issue required a little more than just that.
Yet what about the messes I can’t clean? The mess of my sin…
When I think of my mess, my heart settles upon the one that God has so graciously cleaned up for me. So long I tried to mend it and heal it and tape it and clean it – until I thought I had it looking pretty good. I’d give it a good spit and a rub with the elbow part of my sleeve and think that the mess was virtually unnoticeable.
But it was still there. Standing proudly in a pool of other messes that walked along beside me, having the audacity to think the very same thing. Thinking that their mess wasn’t really a mess, either.
How foolish we are to think that we can walk through our lives without The One who makes all things new. Who disposes of the mess.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
So bring your mess…and come find rest.
Stop.
***
See? Now wasn’t that fun? Tell me about your mess in the comments below – or link up at Lisa-Jo’s blog.
Oh I can so relate to this post!! I have 4 kids too and THAT alone is a nightmare at times to keep up with! But compared to the mess my life was before Jesus…oh I just thank Him for His grace and mercy, new each day!!
While I have not experienced the mess of 4 children, I have experienced the mess sin has made in my life. So grateful I can come to Him, freely, and experience His grace & mercy & love! Visited this morning from FMF. Have a great Friday!
Amen. Like you, for years I tried to hide my imperfections. I thought I was doing pretty well until I had a major bout of depression and started counseling. As the layers started to get peeled away, I realized just how much I’d been trying to cover up.
But you’re absolutely right that, no matter how much we bury our sin and shine up our outsides, we can’t get rid of the sin without allowing Jesus to take it.