As a kid- I think most of us can say we loved to play with dirt. Dirt is so versatile, just add water and you have hours of infinite fun!
As a kid I remember finding some empty cups, cool whip containers, and an old muffin tin to start my own dirt bakery. I remember making all sorts of muffins, some more appetizing than others. Often creating healthy versions with grass and adorning others with flowers and rocks.
I remember making them during the day and letting them “bake” overnight. In the early summer morning we would find them dried to perfection and ready to “sell” at the bakery stand.
As kids, dirt was in infinite supply. There was no trade value, markup, or startup costs. Dirt could be formed into almost anything you wanted, so long as you had enough water, patience, and time to mold it to your creative desires.
Question: Why does that stop? Why do we stop getting messy and stop experimenting? Why do we shame ourselves for messes and idol people who have things all put together and all things neat and orderly?
As I ponder our creator, who made the heavens, and the earth, and seas, and people and animals.... my guess is he is no stranger to messes. Guessing those messy dinosaurs he created didn’t quite pan out as he expected.
The people he created, myself and my family included, are also a mess (in some of the most beautifully broken ways). I’m sure daily he looks down on us with the same pride and adoration we have towards our own children making those messy mud pies.
Messy can be beautiful. Mess gives us some authority to experiment, to play, and to dodge the criticisms of this world. It is in the mess of life after all that makes us appreciate our spouses, our children, life itself, and our creator.
God- thank you for allowing us to make a mess of our own lives. Thank you for allowing us to falter, learn your ways, and follow the paths you’ve created for us (even if we take the “scenic” route all too often).
God, thank you for allowing our broken lives to be put back together- often by you and other times by our friends and family who help us pickup and superglue the pieces back together. Thank you for giving us hope and strength and courage to try again, to be creative again, to make messes again, and to trust again.
God, please help us to remain like the children- filled with your spirit, your joy, your passion, and zest for creativity and life itself. Let us not fall into the worlds ways, the enemies ways, or the lies we have come to believe. Let us soar high, let us reimagine, let us put a little dirt on our lives again, and again, and again, and again. Amen!
"Come down
Spirit when You move,
You make my heart pound
When You fill the room
You're here and I know You're moving
I'm here and I know You will fill me
Holy Spirit
Come rest on us
You're all we want
You're all we want"