Messy Piles and Weedy Gardens

I’m coming to believe that there is a purposely-imposed pressure on us to feel we are lacking. It is like a stressful nagging at our soul, to make us feel we are missing the mark.  I have felt it so much recently.

Messy piles about the house call out to me. “Shame, shame!” Weeds in my garden wave their disapproval in the breeze. And my garage accuses me every time the door rises.  These superficial things become weights that make true life issues seem unbearable. It’s like they just add heat to the fire of life’s pressure cooker.  You know what I mean?  It’s like that box you neglected to move upstairs that now you have to go around daily in order to pass by.  Is it a life or death crisis? No, it’s just a few extra steps, but also an increase of pressure and annoyance.

So am I just a slovenly slug?  No, I am actually a bit OCD.  But for the life of me, I can’t conquer these things. Why?  What is going on?

There are two aspects of this issue: One, the plan of the enemy and two, the Solution. So firstly, let’s look at the enemy. His dastardly plan is to separate me from my self and from my God. As long as my problems are bigger than my God, the enemy succeeds. If my vision is deflected off of God and onto the difficulty, I am trapped. The enemy points to the mess and says, “He is not with you and the proof of your separation is your mess.”

Everything that the enemy does, he does to try to separate me from God. If he can just keep me constantly focusing on the mess and in pursuit of fixing my world, he wins.

So now on to the Solution. I believe it is invitation. God wants me to invite Him into every second of my life. He understands my life much better than I do. He doesn’t just wait until I’ve finished all my responsibilities to fellowship with me. He wants to actually perform these responsibilities, commune with me in them, and be with me. My job is to INVITE Him in.

The mess is never the crisis; the schism in my awareness of Christ is. Belief in my separation just empowers the enemy’s lie.  Mess is opportunity for invitation.  This whole life is about relationship, not tidied dwellings.  Though it would give me amazing peace of mind, I can’t do it.  God must achieve it for me.

So I surrender to commune with Him in whatever state I dwell.  I invite Him to take up my cares and perform my tasks.  Heck, all my struggling and straining does is just exhaust and frustrate.

In Christ, every moment, every second, is complete. I have to learn to rest in His timing and will for providing.  This is a serious test, because I need it done, NOW.  “The mess is a separating of me from God and my sanity.”  If I believe in the separation, then I am ever on a journey toward Him rather than the experiencing of Him.

He is in the complete fullness of time – filling everything with Himself. He wants me to invite Him into every second. Whether I feel ecstasy or the drudgery, He wants to experience everything I do with me, in me, and through me.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:27