Messy, The Workshop of the Spiritual Life

Lately I've been attempting to fulfill the request of my 5 year old daughter to create a Polly Pocket/Littlest Pet Shop/Pony (these are brand names for little girl toys in case you're wondering) house for her. Flying by the seat of my pants, listening to her instructions, and using what old materials I have lying around, I've come up with what you see in the picture so far. Dust in my hair, sticky fingers, tools everywhere-the shop and I are becoming an increasing mess while the little house is actually starting to take some shape.

Michael Yaconelli, in his book Messy Spirituality, has a chapter entitled, "Messy, The Workshop of the Spiritual Life". In it he talks about how after 45 years of trying to follow Jesus, he keeps "losing Him in the crowded busyness of life". He says further, "Right now the only consistency in my life is my inconsistency".

Michael questions how he has any right to write a book about spirituality when (as he describes further) his life seems so "unspiritual" much of the time. That is of course if we define spirituality as praying all the time, never getting rattled, consistent Bible reading, having some inside track on God, and possessing special powers. In short, the life of a monk!

However, if indeed spirituality is a relationship where we discover God in the raw realities of our lives, then maybe the scandalous truth is that anyone can be spiritual. "Maybe ...all of us are in some condition of not-togetherness, even those of us who are trying to be godly. Maybe we're all a mess, not only sinful messy but inconsistent messy, up-and-down messy, in-and-out messy, now-I-believe-now-I-don't messy, I-get-it-now-I-don't-get-it messy, I-understand-uh-now-I-don't-understand messy." If many of the Biblical stories are any example of true spirituality, then Micheal believes he does in fact have a right to write on such a topic.

Maybe in our frustrating awkward messy lives, God comes to roll up His sleeves, set up shop, and begin shaping and molding our relationship with Him.