Straightening Up Messes

(Psalm Study)

 “He’ll straighten out the whole world, He’ll put the world right and everyone in it.” (Ps. 98:9 MSG)

Think about all the messes that you have encountered in the past month. Did you try to straighten things out? Clean up the messes? How did it work out?

I am uncomfortable with messiness and feel the need to straighten things out, whether they are mine to clean up or not. Often I end up just spreading the mess. Sometimes I end up hurting myself.

When my son was a young child, I taught him how to clean up his own messes. Many mornings, when I woke up and walked through the kitchen, I would feel my feet sticking to the floor. I could tell that my child had spilled juice and tried to wipe it up as best as he could. Even though I would have to wet mop the floor to clean it properly, I appreciated my son’s attempts to clean up. However, there was one instance when I wished he would have just called for help immediately. One day, when he was around 5 years old, he dropped a glass thermometer that contained mercury. Mercury is toxic and the cleanup procedure is well beyond the skill set of a 5-year-old! But, he didn’t know that. Luckily, I heard the clink of the glass thermometer falling on the tile floor and walked in to find him trying to pick up the pieces with his bare hands. I helped him wash his hands and face and then made him wait in another room while I cleaned up this toxic mess.

When we encounter messes that are beyond our ability to straighten out, we have to call on a Higher Power. It’s difficult to differentiate between what we are meant to straighten out and what is best left to God. I’ve come up with a new version of the ‘Serenity Prayer.’

Lord, give me the grace to accept with serenity the messes which I cannot clean up, the tenacity to clean up the ones I can, and the wisdom to know the difference-- trusting that YOU will put the world right and everyone in it.