When we moved into our house I thought it would be fun to make the basement area into a creation station for me and the boys. I started with large recycle bins that were stacked one on top of the other. It took no time to fill them with plastic lids, fabric, foam, and random shiny objects. In the closet there was paint, glue, ribbon, and scissors just to name a few crafty things that help inspire creativity.
In the beginning, the boys were too young to be creative alone therefore their creativeness was always supervised as was the clean-up. As they have gotten older there have been many a day that I find the door to the basement open and a little artist downstairs with a masterpiece in the making. The only downside is this is usually happening as I make dinner leaving me unable to supervise and the artist without ample time to clean up his mess before bedtime rolls around.
What was meant to be a source of great joy and fun has become a place I want to avoid altogether. Part of me wants to back a garbage truck up to the basement door and start throwing all the clutter away. Another part of me wants to increase the creativity and make the creation station more appealing by turning it into my own ingenious center for sewing and other imaginative things. That’s when the creation station converts to a dreamland where I can envision really cute organizers on the wall, cubbies all neat and tidy, pretty lighting and all those things that pop up on Pinterest with a simple search. In the midst of chaos and disorder, I close my eyes and go to this beautiful, peaceful place in my mind.
If I only had a design manual or plan to follow to see my dream fulfilled. Better yet, it would be so nice to have an expert beside me for the entire process of cleaning out, designing, decorating and reorganizing. It is easier and much more fun to do these kinds of things with a friend!
The more I think about it, the more I realize how life is a similar parallel. We may have envisioned our life a pretty picture of “happily ever after” only to wake up in the middle of a nightmare crying for someone to help us clean up the disaster and rebuild our life into something beautiful, inspiring, and functional.
Friend, God does have a wonderful plan for your life. Before you existed He knew you and the plans He has for you are to prosper you and not to harm you. Not only has He given each of us a manual for life, called the Bible, to inspire and direct us when we find our lives cluttered in a state of chaos and confusion, He has provided the perfect friend and helper, Jesus, to be there with us cleaning up the mess and organizing our days according to His good purpose.
No matter what our lives look like on the outside, the real problem we all have is the sin that stains our hearts. Jesus is more concerned with forgiving our sins than He is with any issue we could have on this earth because He knows no matter how messy our lives get, sin is the biggest problem that we will face. It’s what separates us from God, not just today but for all eternity. Jesus came first and foremost to forgive us from going to the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. He took the punishment that you and I deserved and gave us what He deserved; the right to become children of God, eternal life, and a beautiful inheritance in heaven.
I want to encourage you that if Jesus can take care of our biggest problem, sin, then surely He can take the messes that we make of our lives and the confusion that we find ourselves in and make sense of it all. He is with us when we open the basement door of our life surprised by the disaster we find ourselves in. He has a plan for us and has promised to be with us as He works all things together for the good of those who love Him who are called according to His good purpose.