Unnecessary Mess Avoidance

During a recent run, I travelled through a field with many fresh cow pats. Naturally, I was careful to avoid stepping into them. On my way back home, I passed a stream which was obviously a drinking place for the cattle. Just for a few moments, I did not pay attention, and suddenly I found myself with both feet up to my ankles in liquid cow poo. I must admit it made me laugh. Thankfully, as I walked through the river, all the manure washed off my feet, and no harm was done.

As I reflected on this experience for the rest of my journey home, I thought how ironic it was that I had avoided stepping into isolated cow pats, only to end up standing in a veritable sea of muck. And this is what struck me the most. Stepping into it really wasn’t that bad after all!

It made me think about the messy situations we avoid in life, perhaps because we fear them more than we should. The first mess that came to mind is that of our own personal pain. We might avoid touching this, and think it is too painful for us to face, or too difficult for God to handle. Yet Jesus wants to come into our mess, and our avoidance of it precludes His solutions to the mess we carry inside us.

Another messy situation we might try to avoid is difficult relationships. These can be very messy indeed, so our instinct is to steer away from them. Whilst this is understandable, again it means we are not able to bring God into the situation.

The final messy situation that I thought about is when God asks us to do something we don’t really want to do. Perhaps He is indicating an area of service that we would rather not do. We might fear getting our hands dirty. We might prefer our comfort zone instead. But clinging to this reluctancy robs us, not only of the rich adventure God wants to lead us into, but also it affects the people we are meant to serve.

Jesus amazingly came down from the purest place in the universe (Heaven) and came to our fallen world. Down here, He sought out the rejects and outcasts, the lepers and the unclean, and reached out to them. In other words: Jesus did not fear our mess. I want to be more like Jesus and get better at not avoiding messy situations, if that is where God is leading me. And I am sure you want to become more like Jesus too.

When I shared my experience with the cow dung at Blairmore, I learnt something. We had people from Africa, as well as the subcontinent of India. Both told me that cow poo is used over there, both for construction, as well as for fuel, and that it is completely safe. Whilst I saw its dirtiness, they see its usefulness. To me this so powerfully speaks of how God sees things. We may only see the mess, but He sees the value.