And yet, and yet…

Ever visit a swamp? There’s kind of a creepy quality to it. While everything is green and vibrant, there can be a kind of stillness that unsettles. It’s not particularly the stillness or the quiet, but rather the fact that with all the green around we know there’s something living under that water, and that it probably would want to bite.

Compare that to a hotel. Coming from a house full of children, there is just something relaxing about walking into a room where the bed is made, the bathroom is uncluttered, and there isn’t a layer of toys and clothing covering the floor. In good hotels, usually it will be clean and quiet. It is uncomplicated and convenient.

Places like swamps typically gross me out while the clean and cool of a hotel soothes and relaxes me. And yet, there is a paradox: while the swamp may be disgusting, it is a place teeming with life. While the hotel might assure us of protection against discomfort, it is a place entombed in quiet sterility. The simpler, more sterile things of the world tend to be devoid of life.

In our lives, many of us strive for that level of cleanliness and organization. We don’t like variables, we don’t like messes. We don’t like the doodlebugs eating the leaves on the driveways. We don’t like spaghetti sauce that’s gotten everywhere on our child and dining except in their mouths. We prefer a nice white tile, a freshly cleaned table.

But here’s the problem: in our Christian lives we are not called to sterility. We are called to multiply, to grow, to invest, to engage. We are not called to comfortable sterility, but to the messiness of life. To lean into life risks us getting dirty and inconvenienced. But to crave otherwise is to crave inertia, to crave death.

So when you face the inconveniences and the messes in your life, take heart. It can be demoralizing to face down something you know will exhaust you emotionally or cause you to take on a level of discomfort you’d rather not approach. Just remember: nothing grows without the discomfort of growing pains. If you feel the discomfort of the mess, your life might be less of a disaster and more of a miracle, generating a beauty that will glorify Jesus. there might be something growing that you haven’t yet seen, but that will make all the difference in the world.

And if your life feels sterile and completely convenient, it might be worth asking if it’s time to get a bit messier.

Praise God that He had grace on my mess first.