lets get dirty

while many may be expecting a blog on the messiness of my two boys (and they are) because of my recent posts...we aren't going that direction.  i've been thinking about a story a classmate shared during undergrad as he spoke in chapel.  he told of sharing a room with his little brother and how one day his brother got sick.  not just sniffly nose, little bits of snot, cough cough sick...talking, projectile vomit, flowing excrement, whole body sore agony type sick. believe it or not, he went into more detail.  then he shared of hearing his brother whimpering at the whole ordeal and the way he tried to help him fall asleep was to crawl out of the bed and lay down next to his brother, in all that mess, and held him.

i'm struck at the absurdity of someone who would choose to enter into another's mess.  we love to keep things and others separated. then we give it a nice name, boundaries, and say that its healthy and good.  and while, yeah, there should be some, often we place boundaries where they shouldn't be for fear of getting to dirty...or maybe its out of fear of others getting into our own.  cause lets be honest...we've all got our messiness, we've all got our dirtiness.  what keeps us from entering into one another's mess?  what prevents us from fully entering into someone's life that they become a part of our mess?

during this season, i am in awe of a God that would choose to enter into our mess...that would choose to become the least of these, a baby born in a manger, a child who's diaper needed changed...i'm in awe the it was the "Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him".  and i'm also reminded of our call...not mine and mandy's, but for us all...to preach as Christ preached and live as Jesus lived...to attempt to be a disciple without seeking to mirror the incarnation through the power of the Holy Spirit results not in a life that brings grace and hope, but a life that keeps us separate, that protects us from another's mess...that prevents us from truly showing the beauty and wonder of the One who came that we might have life.

lets get dirty