Raise your hand or nod if there's something about the past decade you're ready to leave behind you. Keep raising that hand or nodding if you'd say even this past year had its share of mess that you're eager to move on from.
We all have those moments. All of us. Even if your life feels messier than someone else on social media or next door, we each have a lump of stuff we'd love to ditch. You feel it on nights you can't fall asleep from all the anxiety or when you walk to the mailbox and cringe at the bills that await. It can send an ache through your body that "speaks" a sort of personal slang that's also a foreign language. A mess will dry your emotional health, which then filters into everything else.I've walked through my own share (and scare) of issues in my own life and those of my loved ones, from hospital visits, to finances, to work hurdles, to petty people... and every situation created "feelings" that mugged me. Even this past month I navigated some awkward moments that bullied how I feel toward what I "deserve" in light of what I have.
What have you been demanding life hand you lately?
Consider... when have you said something like:
- "Again? Again?!?!? No, I don't deserve that."
- "Fine. Just, fine... ugh, not fine... but FINE."
- "On top of everything else, now... my dog? Seriously?"
- "Of course! Of course! Of course I have water damage behind that wall now. Why not? What's one more thing going wrong in my life?"
Going through a mess is something we all have in common.
It's why I'm thankful we can each mess with our mess.
- Community: It may feel "easier" to hide our mess, but there are people around us or across the miles we can open up with and emotionally vomit in front of. It doesn't have to be an "ugly cry," but it can be. It's more about finding safe listeners, like a a small group of people you do life with who won't pump you with platitudes but prayer.
- Counsel: Sometimes we need professional wisdom to navigate what we're sorting out. Other times we need situational mentors - people who for even just one conversation each we allow to have a voice into our lives. People like this help you "snowblow" your heart - they're another resource you can draw on to attack your accumulation with power beyond your own, so you don't feel stuck in your garage unable to get out and go new places.
- Christ: I said this in the last post - I'll say it again. You have a Savior who can bring you out of the sin you're stuck in... because there is one thing that every trick you know won't work on, and that's who you really are in and beyond this life. It's why God entered into this life to transform us for what is beyond this life. Are you open to more on this?
- Be specific about what has exhausted you over the past 10 years.
- Be specific about what you did with it. This is so, so important... because often the most important step in navigating future messes is to own what we've latched onto in previous messes. In every impossible situation, we look for (in our complete exhaustion) what's "possible" to get by - be it retreating into ourselves, or not risking in friendships, or finding some option floating by as we drown that turned into a bad habit full of holes.
- Be specific about what your choices can be. Look at the 3 C's above - what are you will to do now, and when will you do it, and who will you tell about it so you have support?
Mess with your mess.
"I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” - Jesus, who was crucified before He was resurrectedYou are not alone. There is hope. Now is the time.
Talk more tomorrow... let's take these steps today.
