The Messy Beautiful

Almost a year ago, I read a blog post I will probably never forget.  What the writer had to say was so similar to my own feelings but her response so different that it left an impression on me.  I'm sure I even linked to it here back then, too.  In her post, Aimee describes how she had been responding to the mess in her home in irritation and frustration until she began to snap photos of the mess while intentionally looking for the beauty and thanking God- choosing joy and thankfulness!

It's gotten a little messy here lately.  The five of us passed around the stomach virus.  Then two of the three kids had strep throat.  We had to cut back on our Friday babysitter who doubled as house tidier and laundry queen extraordinaire.  I was out at a conference most of one weekend and then away for all of the next.  One evening, the husband of a friend from church stopped by to pick something up and deliver it to church as a favor for me.  When the front door opened, the surprise in his eyes as they scanned the living room was not be missed, though he quickly tried to hide it :)

I don't tolerate mess well.  I can overlook dust with no problem.  But clutter, piles, disorganized messes?  Not so much.   I have found myself irritable, frustrated and just plain cranky with the state of our home as of late.  So I did what any sane woman would do- I photographed the "messy beautiful" and posted it to my public blog :)

And guess what?  I found what Aimee did!  From behind the lens, with an eye disciplined to look beyond the mess to see the beautiful; with a tongue no longer permitted to moan and complain but allowed only to give thanks for the messy beautiful, I found peace.  I saw grace.  I experienced mercy.  I touched beauty.

Linking up (late- how appropriate) with hill at Capturing Motherhood: