I won’t lie. This year has gotten off to a rough start. It sometimes seems like 2021 took a look at 2020 and said, “Ha, that was cute, now watch this.” For me, 2020 meant missing out spending the final week with my son before he left for college. It meant wrestling with the fact that I may not be able to make the trip to Dallas with him. A trip that meant so much to both of us, Couple that with a lack of patience, and that week became a perfect storm.
There were tears. There were angry words. There were…All. The. Feelings. All the questions. All the what ifs. And, I have to admit, much of anger, my tears, my questions were directed at God. Growing up in the South, that’s not something we were encouraged to do – question God. Get angry with Him. No, faith meant accepting things as they were. It meant keeping your faith in a neat little box. There was no room for messiness when it comes to faith.
Now, though, I realize that God wants our mess. He wants us to cry out to Him. In our pain and in our joy. Allowing out faith to get messy means we get real with God. And being real, allows us an intimacy that tidy faith doesn’t. God invites us to be real with Him. Each and every day.
Psalm 62:8 says:
O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge.
So today, I encourage you to step away from tidy faith and get messy. Take a deep breath. Cry when you need to. Scream when you need to. Ask questions when you need to. Pour your heart out to Him. Don’t keep your faith in a tidy box.