A Beautiful Mess

For the past two weeks, our church community has been diving into the creation story in unique ways. Last week, we gathered before worship for a yummy breakfast, and then moved to the gym (our usual meeting place) for an inter-generational worship experience. It was so awesome to see adults and children alike together praising our great God and taking time to steep in the wonders of creation together.

Yesterday’s message centered around the question: “Does the creation narrative tell us anything about who we are and what we’re supposed to be doing?” We considered the idea that creation reflects both the orderliness and extravagance of God. On the one hand, we have a sensible creation process, where each day’s work builds upon the previous. On the other hand, we can look at the created world today and see his excess and extravagance (for example, the millions of species of beetles and fish).

Signs of spring on my walk later that afternoon compelled me to continue mulling over the creation story. I found myself captured by the second verse, where it says “the earth was without form and void.”

The hardest part of any creative endeavor is always the beginning. And yet, in the beginning of God’s creative process, right after he creates the heavens and the earth, we read that the earth is basically what we might term a mess. Unfinished. Formless. Shapeless. Empty. In short, not looking too good.

As a recovering perfectionist and one who finds it hard to begin things for fear of making a mess, I find it extremely encouraging that God would actually go through this same stage in his creative process. Of course, being God, he can already envision the end result. But he is not nearly as hung up on perfection as we are! In fact, Scriptures speak so much more to God’s patience and purpose and his presence than they ever do of perfection. (I use the word “perfection” here in the sense of needing everything to be under control, or perhaps in the sense of fullness and/or completion; I am not implying God’s creation was flawed!)

God could have thrown out a mass of absolute perfection, a fully completed created realm, in a mere blink of an eye. Instead he chooses to begin by making a mess, and it’s out of that mess that he brings forth beauty and order. And he is still at work today, bringing forth his good purposes out of messiness.

 

Conversation: What about creation has caused you to marvel at the goodness of God lately?

(photo credits courtesy of morguefile.com)

 

So What? (So That)

Q-markIn my last post, I mentioned my very messy game room. I guess that was a “put your money where your mouth is” sort of post, because I got right back on it last week and managed to get the storage room completely back together. Aah, the joy of purging and pitching . . . but I digress.

Once I had everything back on the shelves, I surveyed my work with a sense of satisfaction. Suddenly I recalled the reason I started this project in the first place. My mom gave me a cutting table back in December which I just shoved in the corner of my office. I intend to use it downstairs where I usually sew. But I needed a place to store it out of the way when I’m not  using it. Now there’s plenty of space in the storage room for it.

“Well, what are you waiting for, girl? Go get that table.” And so I commenced the fun  job of dragging it down the carpeted steps, hoping it would get away from me and that a certain curious little doggie didn’t get tangled up around my feet in the process. “Aah, that’s better.”

And then I remembered why I wanted the cutting table down there in the first place. I have some ideas for sewing projects up my sleeve (and I hate like heck to cut fabric on a card table).

There’s so often a “so that” that gets easily lost in the details, isn’t there?  I needed to clean out the storage room “so that” I could move that table downstairs. But the bigger “so that” was about getting set up to sew (and there may be another “so that” lurking behind those innocent sewing projects!) Keeping the “so thats” in view–however big or small– certainly helps keep me moving ahead and I feel like it has the potential to keep my creative outlook fresh and free from becoming encumbered by those very necessary details.

So . . . how do the “so thats” come into play for you? I’d love to know how you keep sight of the bigger picture.

(graphic image utilizes elements from ScrapGirls)

What If?

Q-markOur gameroom is one place in my house that I strive to keep clean and organized at all times, because it’s my great little getaway place when I need to kick back and relax in peace and quiet. And yet, it is a complete shambles today.  It looks like something threw up down there. Actually my storage room kind of did . . . throw up, that is. That would be because I decided the other day was a good time to empty it out completely and reorganize it. Wow, it’s amazing how much we squirrel away back there!

I’ve been wanting to tackle this project for a few months now; I just never got around to it. The other day however, I said to myself, “What if I just leave the dishes and go down and just start?” (I already knew the answer: I might have a mess that takes more than a day to resolve but at least I’ll have started). The question really was “What if I do things out of the logical order that guarantees a sense of accomplishment?” (Is there any doubt I’d get the dishes done that day?)

Many of the things we enjoy in life, from time-saving inventions to unique flavor combinations, probably came about because someone was bold enough to ask “what if.” Kids ask this question all the time, infusing their natural sense of curiosity into their daily play. And isn’t it fun to watch them learn through that process?

I’m finding those two little words to be quite powerful, and at the same time, quite fun. Somehow they open the doors to creative possibilities. I’ve been asking myself why this might be, and I think it has to do with outcomes. When I ask “what if,” I’m letting go of a controlled outcome. That can be kind of scary, especially for those of us who think we need to control the end result! While I wouldn’t appreciate living in a state of constant uncertainty, I’m finding that introducing it here and there, under the guise of “possibility,” has helped me lighten up a lot. It’s really just an open-ended question that throws up a lot of multiple choice answers that serve as little windows of opportunity.

What might asking “what if” look like in your life today? Maybe it’s something as simple as letting your kids do their homework with colored pens or serving breakfast for dinner or eating dessert first. Maybe it’s changing up your daily routine a bit or acting on one of those God-nudges. Or maybe it’s the first step down a life-changing path. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. And check back for Part Two later this week . . . So What?