How to Change the World: Be Messy You

Sep 26, 2014Find joy today

I once had a friend tell me that I am too honest in my posts on the interwebs, that I needed to maintain my professional aura. Of course I do worry about Debbie Downer stalking me and being a crabby girl who is way too honest, but what I have discovered after writing over 2500 blog posts is that the posts that resonate the most with people are when I share my mess.

Why? I’m guessing it’s because my mess helps you not feel so dang alone about your own insecurities, worries, and stresses. My mess is simply the human mess we all deal with.

It seems like we live in a strange bubble sometimes. This bubble exists in the magazines lining the store checkout lane–it’s the ideal self who is svelte, savvy, and oh so happy all the time. It’s the persona we’re told to maintain.

Except that no one tells you how very difficult and stressful it is to maintain a facade. Honestly, I’d rather just be plain ol’ me, messiness and all, because my honest mess means you feel validated, honored, and not so darned alone.

Truth: we all struggle. Life isn’t always roses and ponies and rainbows. We have loss and we shake our fists. We weigh too much, exercise too little, and nurse very painful wounds from broken relationships. We ache for our kids. We rehash our failures. We yell at ourselves when we don’t measure up to our idea of perfection. And then we wonder if God could love our messiness. We doubt. We fret. We question our sanity.

This is normal, friends.

The beauty of vulnerability is simply this: Jesus is strong in our weaknesses. He is not seen when we stiff-arm our way toward perfection. Oswald Chambers wrote, “God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me.”

Let’s ditch the show-room mentality where we’re all happy-clappy, fully perfect (on the outside) people. Instead, embrace the mess, knowing that your own authenticity might just let someone else exhale a sigh of blessed relief.

So, yeah, I heard my friend’s advice, and then I decided I’d rather be seen as flawed and broken (where Jesus can shine through my cracks) than professional and with it.

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