Cleaning Up Messes

Mommy Mondays

Do you know how sticky little two year olds can get? 

At a dessert social following our church's prayer service last night, my niece's mouth displayed remnants of vanilla frosting, and her hands bore the evidence of a red velvet cupcake. I'm pretty sure the crumbs of a bag of chips salted the ensemble. Her dad handed her a diaper wipe.

It was a beautiful evening, with the sun just beginning to set and the warm breeze of a lingering summer in the air. People were chatting in various groups, and children chased each other around the newly erected playset.

I glanced at my niece, surprised to find her using her wipe to clean up someone's spilt lemonade on the pavement. It made me laugh.

As my brother knelt down and explained that she doesn't need to clean the ground, we saw that while she had selflessly attempted to use her own wipe on someone else's mess,

she was still a mess herself.

I said to my brother, "Isn't this what God must think when we try to clean up other people's messes?"

It's a modern-day log in our own eye but trying to remove our brother's speck.

What situations are in my circle of influence, that I can speak truth into and be a light in? Oh God, give me wisdom in these!

And what circumstances are outside of my control? What messes do I need to trust that God will clean up Himself?

He says to me:

"Don't worry, Becky, I've got all of that under my perfect control.

Now here's a diaper wipe. Start cleaning your face."

Lesson noted.