More Than Messy

It’s been quite a week…

How are you seeing your current condition/situation?

• Your health

• You’ve gained weight

• Your relationships

• People saying ugly things about you

• Your level of anxiety

• The pressures you’re facing

• Pure exhaustion

• Finances

• Your frustration with your own decisions

I went on a lovely cruise to Mexico with my daughters (and Steph’s family) this past week and brought home some fun souvenirs, and Covid. Thankfully, I was the only one in our group to get it.

Two days later, Lauren had her final cleft palate related surgery (where they rebuild the inside of her nose) before heading off to college this coming month. I was unable to go to the hospital but Mark took her and has been an amazing nurse to both of us running between two levels of our house to feed and care for us both.

I will spare you the specifics (you’re welcome) but I’ll just say it’s been a messy week in the Cramer home.

As I was sharing some of the messy details with a dear friend, she wrote back something that gripped my heart:

“Here is the thing that is beautiful in your mess. In your hard stuff, you pull together, and lean on each other, and it’s so natural for you, I don’t think you even see the beauty in it anymore. But me, looking in, even the (she specified some of the literal mess) mess, it’s beautiful.”

I welled up with tears. She’s so right. We stick together, we ebb and flow and lean on each other, and that truly is beautiful.

Since I couldn’t be in the same room with Lauren, we met out on the deck and front porch to visit. We were thankful for breezes and butterflies. We took in the sounds of our new fountain and looked for the frogs hiding around rocks.

It’s difficult to see the beauty in our lives when the mess is laid out so clearly before us. We have to dig to see the beauty. We lift up the pieces and squint to focus on what lies below the obvious.

I know that each of us is walking through our own unique hard things.

I pray that whatever it is for you, you peer beyond the mess to see the beauty.

It’s there.

Life is more than messy,

it’s beautiful too.

Muster the moxie to see it, believe it, and let hope do it’s thing in your heart.

His mercies are new every morning.

He’s where the peace is,

Sue