Looking at friends’ pictures in
albums and on line I have discovered something that many of us as
parents have in common. As we teach our children how to feed
themselves it seems that at some point we present them with some sort
of spaghetti meal. The next step in this process is a picture of the
grinning child sporting the remnants of the meal.
What a beautiful mess!
Mealtime messes are part of life if
children are involved – a necessary part of the process. The
nursing infant doesn’t create nearly the mess that a determined
toddler with a spoon is capable of accomplishing!
Even moving from the toddler stage
doesn’t stop the messes. One of our family mysteries is figuring
out how our then preschooler managed to get the chocolate pudding on
his back while he was eating it…thankfully he does much better
now…but still…it was a beautiful mess!
Then fast forward to the teen years
when it seems that food consumption is non-stop. The constant sight
of dirty dishes in the sink…a beautiful mess!
Are you questioning? A beautiful mess?
Really?
Each of these messy stages shows us
that growth is happening. Maturity is developing.
Each of these messy stages had to
happen and because we know they are a sign of growth and that they
are passing we can label them beautiful messes.
Sometimes we have situations in our
lives which look like a mess. Just a mess…no beauty at all.
Sometimes we feel like a mess – not
nearly as together as we imagine everyone else to be…
Our Father uses these things, these
messes, to move us forward if we will let him…so that tomorrow we
are not at the same place that we were yesterday… so that we do
grow…mature in our walk…become more like His Son.
We do not always recognize the beauty
of the mess while we are in it – but be encouraged…with our God,
nothing is wasted. He promises to walk with us through whatever the
mess is…to bring us out the other side…and that makes it a
beautiful mess!
“When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will
not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be
burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your
God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.” (Is.43:2,3a)
Ruth
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