Tangled Mess

If you are a leader in the church, you are supposed to have your act together. That's what everyone expects...yet they expect you to be real and able to identify with them. This is not an easy place to be. Too often I end up looking like my Christmas decorations. In the box with the ornaments for the tree was a nice little tin can with a wreath painted on it. It was a perfect little Christmas tin (I think someone gave us fudge in it several year ago). I opened it up and the picture above was what I found. It made me think of my own life - I try to keep it nice and neat on the outside, but on the inside I am more often than not, a tangled mess.

My staff and I are starting to read together a book called Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli. I don't know about you, but my spiritual life is not quite as clean cut and neat as I would like to think that it is. Maybe everyone else doesn't have any problems, but I get distracted, disinterested, and often discouraged with my own ability (or inability) to keep up on my spiritual disciplines.

If you are a church leader or simply a follower of Jesus, let me encourage you - You are deeply loved even in the midst of your tangled mess. You may not have it all together and you may not be the "best" at praying or devotional reading or worship. But you are deeply loved by Jesus. While He wants you to grow in your ability to relate to Him, your tangles don't scare or offend Him.

I never did get the tangled mess of ornament hooks unraveled, but when I needed one, I could always pull one out. Maybe there is another lesson there...Don't try to untangle your whole life, just work on the hook/part you need right now. You will get to the rest as you need them.

Under the Mercy,

Jason

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