And yet, and yet…

I like to keep a clean office. There’s something about walking in to the place where you work knowing where things will be and not having to crawl over piles of paper to find what you need. One way a person can figure out my stress level is to look at the state of my office. As my desk is, so is my brain.

Sometimes my kids come up and eat in my office.

Horrifying.

Where I value open spaces and unstained tabletops, they value smudges and ketchup stains marker drawings of princesses and chocolate milk spills. Into my neat quiet environment they bring a tornado of chaos and “I love yous” and “Daddy I’m sorry I got ketchup all over everything.”

Some mornings I enter my office and there are french fries on the floor.

And I remember how blessed I am to have these intrusions into my order.

I like order because it helps me to feel in control of my environment. An environment under control can hopefully minimize pain and irritation and can increase efficiency. But it can’t love you back.

I think about how we bring a mess to God’s table. To a world that was perfectly ordered, we jump in and bring the chaos. He has to pick up our fries. But in the flurry and mess there is love, there is grace, there is life.

Friend, you may be in a phase of life where your back aches from picking up (again) children’s socks or sitting through another temper tantrum over homework. I hope that you can come to cherish these moments. Because when the silence and order return, that order won’t love you back.

So pick up the french fries and create good order, but leave room for badly drawn princesses and ketchup smudges on tables. The next mess might be the most beautiful.

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8