Bless this Mess

They're everywhere.

Piles of leaves and branches.  Separated from the source of life, they have lost their color.  No longer pretty and in a word - messy.

Maybe you've read this little idiom - God can make a testimony out of a test  and a message out of a mess.  Or look at the first four letters in the name Messiah - same concept.

You're looking for a Pollyanna approach - right?  You want me to tell you how beautiful this is, don't you?,

Sorry, I haven't come to see that as yet.  Maybe sometimes...but not as long as there is this mess in my back yard.

You see the way I figure it; my mess can wait. The people in my life who can relieve me of the mess are busy with their "customers."  And that's the way they are feeding their families.

So what am I to do?

If I had a chainsaw...

But I don't.

It falls my lot to wait.  My words are negative.

I'm really looking for positive.

Surely it's there - somewhere.

It's a mess; there is no doubt about that.  And for days I thought - no harm, no foul.  Just ugly.

Until. . .

In September I started the process of refinancing my house.  One of the goals is to remove  and replace the worn and weathered siding in my 17-year-old dwelling.

All was going well.   Six weeks ago it got an A+ when the appraiser looked at it.

And then Matthew paid a visit.

So the bank sent a second appraiser who - according to a licensed builder contractor who knows my house well - saw something that has been an issue for 10 years.

There is absolutely no damage.  Except in the appraiser's eyes.

And now I wait - you know that's not my favorite thing to do.

See, I told you - it's a mess.So what's my point?  I have learned that some things are a cause for pause in my life.   If I know it's going to make me sad, disgusted or could be the breeding ground to get me into trouble, I try to avoid it.

Or in this case, I don't have to open the back door!

I'll let you know when I find the message in the mess!  It's just around the bend!

May your life be filled with enough sunshine

to make you appreciate the shadows