I Don’t Want Other People To See My Mess
I love a clean, orderly, decorated home, but that is not my reality. In truth, my home is lived in, cluttered and a hodge-podge of decorations placed in random places. When I know someone is coming to visit, I’ll quickly straighten the pillows on the couch, grab cups or bowls and put them in the dishwasher, and then pick up all of my husband’s strewn clothing. In other words, I’m a messy creature who doesn’t mind living in a mess, but I don’t want other people to see my mess.
My husband’s truck looks similar to our house. Occasionally, Joe and I will take a drive around the neighborhood, and he likes to drive. It never fails; when I open the door to get inside the truck, he has to clean out the seat before I can get inside. There will be empty bottles and wrappers on the seat or floor, receipts, and random airplane or car parts that he has ordered. To me, it is a complete mess, but to him, it is organized chaos.
I’m betting each of us has an area of organized chaos. It might be a drawer that is full of all the stuff we need, but it is so full that we can’t find anything when we need it. Some of us even have a whole room in our house set aside for our overflow. It becomes a room where things go to never be seen again until we decide to have a yard sale.
Most of our messes are behind closed doors. They aren’t something we take photos of and post on social media. Instead, we want people to view us as having all areas of our lives put together and organized. We hide our messes and only let others into the areas that have been cleaned.
While my examples have been messes that are related to homes and cars, most of us also have messy lives. Our pasts aren’t a mess-free zone, and we don’t like talking about our struggles and mistakes. Sweeping them under the rug is way easier than letting them be visible to others.
Hiding all our messes is a tactic of the enemy. He likes to keep us isolated and feeling guilty about the messes we’ve created. Keeping our messes a secret might feel good at first, but they eventually start to gnaw at you.
John 12:46
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Galatians 6:2
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Jesus is LIGHT! He doesn’t want us to hide our messes from Him. He already knows who we are and what we have done. Bringing our messes to Him shows that we trust Him with our mess. Jesus doesn’t expect us to live a life free of messiness; He knows we are human and are going to create lots of issues. He encourages us to live in the light and to share our mistakes and mishaps with others. It helps to know there are others whose lives aren’t perfect, and that they trust the Lord enough to use their messes for the benefit of others.
Take a look at your life. Look in the drawers, under the beds, behind the closed doors, and bring it all out into the light. Don’t let the enemy keep you in the dark. Bring all your past messes to the Lord. Ask for forgiveness and for direction moving forward. Little by little, we can clean out the crap that boggs us down. And, every ray of LIGHT that comes into our lives pushes the enemy into the darkness where he belongs.
To GOD Goes The Glory!
Have a Blessed Day!
I rarely comment, however I couldn’t let this one go…it resonated so deeply on so many levels. Thank you for your message. The Light of Christ shines brightly in you!
Joyce, I’m thrilled this post prompted you to comment! The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Amen to the messy parts of life. Thank you for your words of wisdom.
I think we are better off if not worrying so much about a perfect home but just enjoy and live in it. True friends and family will not care!! Enjoy and it will all be there tomorrow!!!
Oh my, how I needed to hear this, on every level…spiritual and physical. Every word was a message meant for me. Thank you for allowing His Holy Spirit to speak to me through you. Wow, just wow.
I’m so glad this post made it’s way to you! The Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways.
Amen, well said.
I so was moved by this post. I’m a hot mess who used to be fairly organized. Guilt and shame gnaw at me. My mind is cluttered over my messes and when I try to work on cleaning out & organizing, I end up overwhelmed. Would love for you to dive deeper on this issue.
I really can relate to your post. My life right now is one big old mess. I was sick all of 2023, going through breast cancer treatment. I would get so stressed because my nice little apartment was messy, stuff every ware dust bunny’s rolling down the hallway. I couldn’t do anything about it because I was to sick and weak to clean. I didn’t want to call a cleaning company because I didn’t want them to see my house like this. I had to just let it go. Same thing with my illness, I had to stop trying to be in control and just let go and let God. I’m still recovering from my illness, but I am thankful to God I’m still here. I feel blessed every day and thankful to have a place to live and if it’s a little messy so be it!
I love reading your post and seeing all the fashions. I have lost weight due to my illness, I needed to loose weight but not this way, thus none of my clothes fit anymore. I will need to get a new wardrobe right now I can’t afford it because of all my mounting doctor bills etc.. but I thank God every day for continuous good health.
Thanks Janet
Janet, there are way more important things than a clean house. We need to let go of the need to impress others, and realize that the Lord is the only one whose opinion matters. I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better, I can’t imagine the struggles that you’ve been through.
I too like neat and organized but to a Fault! I had to lighten up some for my grandchildren. ❤️
Today I needed this message…Thank You