Is this your lifestyle? Moving from one mess to another? How do you extricate yourself from the messes you create or when you find yourself in the middle of this state? Or perhaps you just slide from one mess to the next? Remember, a mess may not really be a mess – just your definition of the state you find yourself. But if all you are doing is moving from one mess to another, what are you learning? Do you discover your entrance, existence, and emergence from a mess lifestyle?
Messes can be great object lessons – helping us to discover more about who we are, and especially, how we live our lives. Messes are definitely a fact of life, regardless of the source of the mess. As long as we are in relationships with others and/or work outside of the home, not sure how we can avoid them. Granted, messes come in all sizes and shapes with varying degrees of seriousness. While we can’t avoid them, we shouldn’t be looking for them either.
The important considerations, in my opinion, are first – definitions – do we know the natural extension of the ‘project’ v. messes? The definition often provides us with the necessary information to move to resolution or restructuring. Once we have analyzed and determined the best approach, we need to have the courage of our convictions. Messes rarely respond to indecisiveness.
The next consideration is knowing how to maintain a good Christian witness in these situations. You are always on display – people watch if you walk your talk. Messes may not be difficult to resolve, but our ‘how’ is critically important. We, by our actions and words, demonstrate what we really believe and Who we believe. Even in relatively simply situations, our how will speak volumes. Remember we can create a new mess while attempting to extricate ourselves from the one we are in. 1 Peter 3:15 gives us our foundation – being able to give a good report.
