Create Beauty in the Mess

 

As I walked upon this scene of destruction as I made a tour of the neighborhood on a surprisingly hot afternoon. What had been a pothole was now an entire section of the road reduced to busted pieces of concrete. Cones were strategically placed along the center of the street to keep cars and trucks from turning the corner and crashing into the debris. Police caution tape was strung from sign post to sign post on the curb side to keep walkers like me from stepping off into the mess. Who knows how long it might stay in this state of disrepair and brokenness.

As I was walking, I was thinking about the world. The Ukraine. The continuing effects of the pandemic. So many I know who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Uncertainty and violence. We live in a time of destruction, fear and struggle. But there are no cones to keep us safe, no police tape to keep us from stepping into the mess that is the world. We are already in it, we are a part of it.

But we are not in it alone. We are all in it together. We can be the cones that save each other from added grief from time to time. We can be the police tape that spares another a misstep or two that we have experienced. We may be in the debris, but we can still be community for one another. We can still be compassionate and gentle companions for each other. We can create beauty in the mess of our world. And why wouldn’t we?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Peace.