Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you? Galatians 3:5
I spend hour upon hour each week picking up toys, cleaning toilets, and scrubbing mystery stains from the carpet. But you can’t tell I have done anything thanks to the three small people who are constantly working against me.
The truth is, not only is my house messy, my entire life is messy. It is a hodge-podge of kids, family, friends, ministry, bad news, great news, joy, sadness, homework, housework, coffee dates, and rotten apple cores tucked into the corners of the minivan. Try as I might, I have found I am incapable of untangling the threads of my life. Just like I can’t keep my house clean, I can’t make sense of the hardships, the sweet goodness, the questions, the overwhelming blessings—and how they should all fit together.
I want my life to be quiet and neat and clean, but I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. Uncluttering my life is not something that I can actually do . . . only Jesus can. Do I knock myself out trying to order my own life or do I trust the One Who created me to shape my life in a way that I could never do on my own? My heart’s cry needs to shift from “I want my life to be uncluttered” to “I am trusting You with my mess.” I have a feeling that the One Who ordered the universe is the One Who can bring beauty from chaos. With or without a clean house.
Faith Step: Leave your house messy and use those extra minutes you would spend on cleaning to find a quiet place and pray, “Jesus, I am trusting You with my mess.”
