Friday, August 31, 2012

Created Chaos...

Disorder. Confusion. A complete mess. Introducing........ CHAOS!!!

*SHOCK FACE*

Oddly enough, the chaotic situation pictured here was not caused by my 3 sons - to whom the room belongs. Rather, it was created by me. That's right, I did this. (And I was in my right mind!) Believe it or not, I had a purpose in this created chaos. Reorganization.

Our children have a mother who is completely obsessed with order and structure. Therefore their belongings are categorized as follows- toy box, ball bag, and music bin. But over the course of time, as the 4 and 5 year old are responsible for cleaning their own room, items were gradually misplaced. An instrument here, a ball there... and their room eventually had no order to it at all!  But if you were to ask them, they would say their room is clean because "everything is off of the floor".  Arrgggg!!! That's not clean!! Where is the box? The bag? The bin??!! Sigh... Another teachable moment, I suppose. But really, let's just clean this junk out!

My kids were sooooo eager to help. There's something about a mess that completely excites them! But again I knew, even with all of their best efforts, they will actually be in the way, and will likely try to prevent me from throwing things away. Therefore, I needed them out of the way. Operation MOVIE.

So they chilled out on the couch as I set out to reorganize their room, and to do a little purging while at it.  Then it hit me... If I am going to truly clean out their room, then I need to take EVERYTHING out.  And it's gonna be a mess! Basically I am going to have to seemingly create disorder, in order to re-order. (That's when I stopped to take a pic... because I truly could not believe that my obsession has caused me to embark upon such a ridiculous challenge!) 

As I was going through each item, I actually found myself getting more and more excited. Working through this project gave me great joy! I was singing and having a good time. Then as I would see progress, I became even more excited to continue this journey!!  My greatest motivation was knowing what the end result would be.

After a little while, though, I began to grow tired. What in the world possessed me to start this??!! Oh well, I can't stop now...  Deep breath... Continuing on... That's when the Lord was so gracious to remind me that He too takes great pleasure in re-ordering my life. See, in all my feeble attempts to keep my "ministry as a mother" all neat and organized, there simply will be times when God has to reveal the true condition of "my room".  Though my "mom-life" is sometimes impressive to others, God knows the junk that lies under my bed, the instruments that are misplaced, and the clothes that have landed behind the hamper - that I may not always see.  And just when I begin to swell with mothering pride, "My room is CLEAN!", God has to seemingly create "disorder", by pulling everything out, to show me otherwise. 

I tell you, when God has to clean out my room, it ain't pretty! And once it's all revealed to me, (my attitude, my motives, my laziness, my lack of diligence, my priorities that are out of whack... to name a few!), I'm often overwhelmed at the daunting task of getting myself together... putting everything back... reorganizing the mess. That's when, in His mercy, God sits me down on the couch, as He does all the cleaning. For much like my children, I will be in the way if I try to help.  And I would certainly try to prevent Him from throwing anything away!!

But then after a little while... though the process feels like forever...

Restoration. Order. Purpose revealed...


...being confident in this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ...
~Philippians 1:6

2 comments:

  1. Lovely. In all labor there is profit!

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  2. I'm so thankful God loves me so much that He would take the time to clean me up.

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