Beautiful Mess

The laundry has been hanging out late into the night lately.

You see, the dryer is broken...  And yet,
even in this mess...
I am surrounded by beauty.

The night air,
with a calm stillness to it.

I walk around the other side of the house...
away from the drying laundry,
away from all this mess...

And there it is,
God's grace to kiss my face once again.

And it washes over me like it was the first time ever.

And it takes my breath away,

God's grace, 

This never ending beauty...

This beauty in all the mess. 

When I am sick this week and can barely drag out of bed.

Out of breath and out of voice, 

Lord, you know I need my voice so badly to function in this thing you have called me to..

This mess,

This war torn world,

riddled with sickness and pain,

Where parents are incarcerated and children go unfed...

And you still show me your grace each day.

It was that day...

 That week-end day we went about, 

despite how I felt...  we went out...

I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Girl with tumbling golden hair gathered leaves that day...

Gathering beauty in, 

Man child always running ahead,
taking in the coolness of the fall day...
In my aching germ ridden body I slowly lag behind.

Looking up I see the one with the leaves throw them up into the air,
colors flutter to the ground, taking second flight.

Man child always running ahead,
One pumps and one watches.

I didn't feel physically healthy, 

But the beauty of the day made up for all of my pain.

God's amazing grace, 

even in moments when it seems life could be more full...

I am stopped by the awe of what I might miss-

if I didn't take time to appreciate each moment.

Painful or plenty, 

Ugliness or splendor, 

In Him all things hold together.  

(Colossians 1:17)

Thank you Lord...

For beauty gathered in fingers that day...

For broken dryers that make life slower.

For bight colors against blue skies.

For sending us to the broken...

For sickness and those who pray...

For sending the light perfect to see this beauty.

Thank you Lord, that you have not left us alone in this mess... 

In this beautiful mess.

Luke 19:9-10

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”