It's ok to have brokenness and unifinishedness and to be out of control. Messy floors, broken fences, unhung doors- not having the time, energy, money, or mental fortitude to fix every little thing. It's ok.

Jesus was born into a mess because the gist of all of us is just that- mess. We ARE ALL A MESS. His PRESENCE in that mess was the greatest gift- the greatest joy. He walked right into complete disarray, stink, and brokenness and made it all new.

But the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people." Luke 2:10

We don't need to fix the mess, perfect the mess, or even hate the mess.

We simply need to invite Jesus IN to the mess- so that all of our messiness doesn't matter anymore. Because HE is the only mattering thing. I wasn't born to to live perfectly, to keep it all together, or to control it all.

I was born to live broken, to BE a big, fat mess. Otherwise, how would we have eyes to SEE Jesus? And a heart to know his sacrifice for us?

I get to shout in this big, broken, messed up world that bringing my Jesus into any of it fixes it right up. It changes my heart and my eyes to see right past every messy bit and simply see JOY. Joy for messy babies and broken hearts and insufficiency and every little failure. Joy for dirty dishes and strewn floors and piles of toys because we are loved so much. Joy over fear of the future because the past has been so darn good, we just want to keep it going. Joy over the endless cycle of ups and downs, because it's only in the downs that we recognize and praise the ups.