Life is Messy

"Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest." 

Proverbs 14:4



When I first read this proverb earlier this morning, I smiled a little, pondered it, then moved on. But I keep coming back to it, wondering at its deeper meaning. And what I've finally concluded is this: 



Life is messy. 



It's messy with relationships, with endless to do lists, with jobs, with all the "maintenance" of the day-to-day routine. It's messy with the stuff of life. But without the mess, without the struggle––if I had no ox and my stable were clean––I'd also have no life. No way to plow. And therefore no harvest.



None of this would be worth anything without all the relationships, that yes, sometimes cause us enormous pain. And without the seemingly endless tasks, many of which God himself has set before us for our own betterment and to glorify his name. And without our jobs and the other day-in-day-out routines that provide for our needs and those of our families, even when the tasks sometimes feel so monotonous we'll scream. 




If you could see my office now (hang on, I'm taking a picture) it's messy. 

Sticky notes and paper everywhere. Books stacked. A basket below me piled with historical research and tidbits I'm working into this next novel. Writing a novel is messy. But novels are about life, so that makes sense. And so will all of this "mess" one day. It'll make sense. Through the eyes of eternity with our Lord Jesus.



Meanwhile, I'm getting my ox in gear, so to speak, grateful to have a messy stable, and am anticipating what harvest God will bring from it all.



Is YOUR life messy too? I hope so, because that means it's full, and that––in Christ––a harvest is coming!

"Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest EVERLASTING LIFE from the Spirit." Galatians 6:8



LOVE THAT! Blessings on your day!