Thankful for the Mess
Donna Zangara / Next Gen and EH Preschool Director
So, what are you thankful for this year?
We usually go to the obvious answers: family, provision, health.
Imagine sitting at the table and when it’s your turn to share you proclaim, “I am thankful for the all the pain, hardship, and mess the Lord allowed in my life this year.”
Huh? What? Yeah, that would be a table conversation changer for sure.
Sometimes … life just gets messy. Whether we created the mess, or we stepped into someone else’s mess, or we don’t even know where the mess came from, a mess is a mess, is a mess.
Sometimes when I clean my husband will say, “I thought you were cleaning? This looks worse than it did before.” To clean a closet well, you need to empty it all out and sort through everything, and all the while you are discovering all the "stuff” that you had hidden in there.
In Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus made a mess to clean house. There were some things that were happening at the temple that angered Him. He passionately proclaims that His Father’s house shall be a house of prayer and not a den for robbers.
Jesus strongly disapproves of anything that is robbing us of the full version of Himself.
Scripture tells us that, “[His] Passion for God’s house (and for us), consumes Him.” Jesus doesn’t bother to make a mess in a house He doesn’t care about. He had ZEAL for His Father’s house (John 2:17).
Right after Jesus turned over the tables, we read in the very next paragraph, "The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them.” (Matthew 21:14)
So, let’s picture this: tables being flipped, dove feathers flying and oh yes, Jesus performing miracles in the middle of the mess.
In all His grace and mercy, He is willing to take that mess, that pain, that hardship, and most often make it into a miracle. When we struggle, He is there. When we are weak, He is strong. When we have nothing, He is our everything.
"Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:10 NLT
So, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
We usually go to the obvious answers: family, provision, health.
Imagine sitting at the table and when it’s your turn to share you proclaim, “I am thankful for the all the pain, hardship, and mess the Lord allowed in my life this year.”
Huh? What? Yeah, that would be a table conversation changer for sure.
Sometimes … life just gets messy. Whether we created the mess, or we stepped into someone else’s mess, or we don’t even know where the mess came from, a mess is a mess, is a mess.
Sometimes when I clean my husband will say, “I thought you were cleaning? This looks worse than it did before.” To clean a closet well, you need to empty it all out and sort through everything, and all the while you are discovering all the "stuff” that you had hidden in there.
In Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus made a mess to clean house. There were some things that were happening at the temple that angered Him. He passionately proclaims that His Father’s house shall be a house of prayer and not a den for robbers.
Jesus strongly disapproves of anything that is robbing us of the full version of Himself.
Scripture tells us that, “[His] Passion for God’s house (and for us), consumes Him.” Jesus doesn’t bother to make a mess in a house He doesn’t care about. He had ZEAL for His Father’s house (John 2:17).
Right after Jesus turned over the tables, we read in the very next paragraph, "The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them.” (Matthew 21:14)
So, let’s picture this: tables being flipped, dove feathers flying and oh yes, Jesus performing miracles in the middle of the mess.
In all His grace and mercy, He is willing to take that mess, that pain, that hardship, and most often make it into a miracle. When we struggle, He is there. When we are weak, He is strong. When we have nothing, He is our everything.
"Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:10 NLT
So, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?