mess

Five Minute Friday: MESS

I wonder if I will ever find time to clean my room.

College life is great--except for the part when for four years I have lived "home" in a single room--my bed a couch, dining room table, homework spot, and, oh yeah, a bed. Also, I have what I call flat-surface syndrome. It means that flat spaces magnetically (magically) attract stuff. Lots of stuff. But despite the mess, my dear friend came over last night to spend some time with me. I invited her into the mess and she came without hesitation.

I wonder if I will ever have a clean heart.

It seems that I tend to make a mess of things in my life--especially when it comes to my heart. I send it through blenders, shredders, compactors. Yet somehow, He comes in and works it slowly, that clay, spinning it, smoothing it, sometimes digging out debris. He never asked me to come to Him cleaned--because my standard of cleanliness is dirt compared to His righteousness and goodness.

I am learning ever more that my messes are the places He draws near to us through. "Thin places" Ann Voskamp called them--the places when our mess strips us of the pride that keeps Him at bay. The places He wants us to experience healing.

Facing messes is hard. But the more I face them, the more faithful I know Him to be.