Not Afraid of Mud Puddles (a five minute friday)

My Five Minute Friday on: Mess

I made a list of all the things that needed to be done. Floors mopped & vacuumed, furniture dusted, bookcase straightened up, tables cleared off…

It took the better part of a week to get the three most important rooms in our house clean and tidy for my (in)RL meet-up guests. And we worked really hard.

What once held evidence of well, life, was now tidy and inviting. And for a brief moment I sat on the couch, exhausted, surveying the clean and organized and felt at peace in the space.

But today, a week later, it's bags of bears for Rise and Shine Movement's teddy bear drive and books and legos and shoes with cast off socks. It didn't take long to get back here.

I notice the contrast — of welcoming strangers into my straightened home, of presenting a "put together" first impression.

In all reality, though, the clean house is not a reflection of life. My life is messy — my house, my relationships, my heart.

It's funny because we have to invite people into our mess. We have to open the door to our cluttered and dust bunny filled houses. Let you see behind the closed doors that are hiding all the junk that normally takes up space on our living room floors.

Why do we think people wouldn't like us if they saw our mess?

Some days are so bad I feel like I'm sitting in a mud puddle, all gloopy and dirty. I used to think no one would want to crawl into the mud puddle with me. That I'd have to hose off first.

But I have friends, good friends, who have seen me there and sat down in it with me. Who weren't afraid to get mud on them, too.

They weren't afraid of the mess. And now I'm not afraid of it either.



Linking today with…