"Thriving in the Madness"

I have a confession to make. My life is not perfect. In fact, sometimes it is downright chaotic. In fact, I’m just going to come clean on a few things right here and right now. Here goes.

1.)  I left the house this morning with dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.

2.)  I’m not very good at keeping my laundry done.

3.)  I never fold socks.

I even have pictures to illustrate these shocking admissions.

Exhibit A

 

Yikes. Dirty dishes left in the sink all day? Don’t show my mother.

Exhibit B

 

Here is a picture of my overflowing laundry basket. To be completely honest, there is more dirty laundry behind the closet door in this picture, but I didn’t want to burn your retinas with the horror.

Exhibit C

 

These are my family’s socks, and guess what? They are never folded. I mean, never. My whole family knows, if you want socks, you go and find a matching pair in the basket.

I did not take a picture of my husband’s bathroom sink. There are limits to this madness. I mean, whyinthenameofallthatisholy can that man not learn to put the cap on his toothpaste and wipe his sink out?

Anyway

Why am I “coming clean” about all of this? Well, my husband has been preaching a series at our church this month entitled, “March Madness,” and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to not just survive the madness of life, but to actually thrive in it, and I’ve come to a few realizations.

Realization 1 – We all have “madness.”

I am well aware that the things I am calling Madness in my life are very, very minor. There are people at this moment who are dealing with Madness that I can’t even comprehend. There are people who are battling illness, watching their precious children battle illness, searching for a job, in the middle of a divorce; Christians are being persecuted for their faith – This is all Madness. I have learned that we all have Madness. There may be people who hide their madness better. There may be people whose Madness is not visible, but we all have our own chaos that we are dealing with.  You are not the only person who is struggling with Madness right now – I promise.

Realization 2 – We thrive in the madness by knowing the difference between the temporary and the eternal.

It gives me great peace of mind when I remember that all of this Madness – whether it is big Madness or small Madness – is just temporary. I have an eternal home in Heaven waiting for me, because I have made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life, so why should I let anything earthly get me down?

Remember, the only thing you can take to Heaven with you is OTHER PEOPLE. So, what that means to me, is that I am going to make every effort to express my love to my family and work on my relationships with them tonight, and I am going to try to get the dishes done, but if it doesn’t happen, oh well. The most important job I have is making sure I know Jesus and my children know Jesus. Their homework, meals, baths, laundry, and sports are all temporary. I must remind myself of this often.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if my kids miss their bath tonight, but it DOES matter if I neglect praying with them tonight.  

When this temporary, earthly life makes no sense, offers no stability or peace, or is just stinking frustrating, remind yourself of this powerful scripture -

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

In all of the Madness of life, remember, that Jesus is Lord and that true peace is only found when you focus your life on Him.

Have an awesome day!

Martha