Zombieland or life is messy

Life is messy.

And often, that messiness is uncontainable.

It's not sewage backing up in the basement.

It's pipes of the stinking stuff exploding in the walls – evidence that something is not right.  You can't hide it.  It's obvious even if you can't see it that something is awry.

Dress it up.  Hide it under the rug. Paint over the oozing stains.

How is that working for you?

I did it.  Tried to decorate the burst pipes, spin the nature of the pipes ("no- that's a new compostable hydroponic food growth system that I'm developing to Save the World"), fix the pipes myself, bulldoze the house, isolate myself in the funk house…you get the picture.

But after a while, the self-imposed "safety" of busyness and isolation wears on you – even before the stench does.

And I've learned that you can train and try to outrun the mess, but like Zombieland…there is always another undead around the corner or behind the door trying to infect you with death.  Whatever you want to say about them, Zombies are patient; they'll lurk and stay steady as they hunt you down.

So what do you do with a house…a life that reeks and seeps of sewage – the messiness?

Call for help.  Cry on the curb.  Bleed if you must.  But revoke your own pride and call for help.

I've asked for help from professional counselors and folks who take pastoral care seriously.  This life is still imperfect…Zombies still lurch in the path.  But I've found that in community and honesty and inviting safe people to help clean up the mess, that there is life and a safe place to mourn.

And I still try to outrun the mess, call it art, tack up a picture over it…but it is becoming so much less Zombie-sewage-land as my hope becomes so much more.  Hope.  Knowing that I am loved 100% by people who KNOW me and not the P.R. that I've tried to sling or their undead ideas.  Thank you to the lovers of my soggy soul.  You know who you are.

It is undeniable.  Life is messy. 

The Good News: you don't have to stay in the sewer. 

The Better News: you are not alone.  If help isn't standing before you – find it.

The Best News:  there is a God you cannot see who is very present and will cultivate your "yesterdays" of mess into a "today" of a life rich in the living and the laughing and the unfettered compassion of others… who may or may not be still stuck in their mess.

Yay!

Blog Bonus:  "Don't you worry about what bitter hearts will say…" Thanks Jimmy Eat World & "The Middle".

Double Dog Blog Bonus:  Seth Barnes and "Becoming a person of grace"