On your knees, cleaning up messes?

We had an incident in our home recently that God really used to speak to me. My 3 year old LOVES beads. She loves to organize things, and make patterns, so to give her a bag of tiny beads and a leather strap is like candy; A HUGE TREAT! So, I had been watching her for awhile and saw how she was very responsible with her beads, how she placed them in the perfect spot, kept them clean and orderly, and how she truly enjoyed the experience. So I went ahead and let her take the beads to nap time with her. Surely she would daintily make gorgeous necklaces, bracelets, and doze happily off to sleep. Instead at the end of nap time I enter her room where there is not one crevasse untouched by beads. She had scattered beads ALL OVER her room. Under her bed, in the corners, on toys, in her bed, in her pillow case... the beads were everywhere... NO jewelry in sight! I was SO disappointed! I trusted her! And deep down I went against my first feeling of not letting her in her room with the potential mess makers. I told her to begin cleaning up. To put the beads in a cup and bring them to me to dump into the bags. I left the room. Came back 10 minutes later and saw a crying crumbled mess... of a three year old. No beads picked up. I gave her another 10 minutes with a punishment looming over her if beads were not picked up. 10 minutes later it became very clear that the mess was too big for a 3 year old to clean up. I sat down with her, showed her where to begin and guided her in cleaning the big mess she had gotten herself into. Then it dawned on me. This is the way God deals with us many times in our lives. He gives us something, entrusts something that we think we love and adore only for us to mess it up, leaving ourselves in a crumbling mess wondering how we will ever get it cleaned up.

I did not clean up Lily's mess while she sat and watched. I showed her how to clean, I guided her in getting it done. I got to the pieces she couldn't reach alone. God won't come in and miraculously clean everything up. God is our biggest supporter when it comes to cleaning up our lives. He equips us, guides us, teaches us, and stays with us until the mess is cleaned up (and lingers even when its done!) He works deep within us to clean the mess that we can't get to. And reminds us when there is more to clean up.

There are many times in life that we get ourselves in a mess that we ourselves can not get out of. And what is our response? Do we crumble in a heaping sobbing pile and stare at the mess? Frown faced, broken spirit, helpless? Or do we cry out to God for help. Do we let our pride get in the way of receiving the help we need. Just as I sat beside Lily until every bead was picked up, God will do the same for you. He will be there, he will see it through the end. There are no beads left in her room. I do not have a looming punishment over her anymore. (God probably never had one!). But I guarantee she learned her lesson. She won't be scattering beads all over her room, the mess taught her it isn't a place she wants to be.

If we let God get us through, and let him teach us for the future we just may realize that it was no fun to be in the mess to begin with!