Bring Your Mess

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Got the keys? 
Check.

Diaper bag?
Check.

Wispy blonde hair, weighed down by clumpy mascara?
Wait...what?

I pivoted on my heel and peeked into the bathroom again. Big brown eyes scanned my face, looking for a smile. My daughter's sneaky two-year-old fingers had found mascara and adventurously brushed it through her hair.

“Brushie my hair, Momma!’

Wow. Wrong brush, baby.

I knelt down and scooped up my beauty queen.

Then, my son's voice cast itself sheepishly on my back, “Uh oh”.

I slowly turned to look. 

Oh, Eli…not the house plants.

Dirt. Every. Where. 

I surveyed the damage, my skunk-striped cutie balanced on my hip.

I quickly realized it wasn’t just my 3-year-old son caked in soil.

I yanked back my cry. 

There was Micah, my youngest, shoveling fistfuls of earth into his mouth. His one-year-old jaw labored up and down--like a cow chewing its cud. 

At least it’s organic. 

*****

Aaron was out of town on a business trip.  It had been months since I’d  gone to Bible study. And to be fair, I had a diaper bag full of excuses. But THIS was the day I felt a strong tug in my heart:
I needed to be surrounded by other women. 

But, I couldn’t go now. I couldn’t walk through those heavy church doors and let others see me as the mom who let her two-year-old dye her hair black. Or, the mom who clearly fed her boys dirt for dinner and didn't make them bathe. 

No, thank you. Not today.

My shoulders drooped. I would stay home and miss fellowship…again. I ran my hand under the bath water, it grew warm--like the tears collecting on my cheeks.

As I lined up the troops for clean up, a worship song came rushing into my heart. 

The chorus rang, “Come, just as you are…”

Whoever wrote that, hasn’t had a day in the life of the Masters family, I thought.

But, it kept looping, like a broken record in my head, “Come, just as you are...”

The spirit was calling me to fellowship, telling me it was OK to come, ‘as is’. If anyone could understand the mishaps of motherhood…it was other women!

I felt a surge of energy and shamelessness pour over me.

I quickly turned off the bath water and announced to my three ragamuffins, ‘Momma’s decided we’re gonna take this mess with us!!”

Yes. We would take our mess with us. 

Isn’t that what true fellowship is all about?

We don’t need to have-it-all-together-- to be together.

by Jenna Marie Masters