Beautiful chaos

"Couldn't this have been a little more organized?"

"These people really need to get their act together."

"I think they could have planned this a little better."

I'm sure I've uttered those phrases dozens of times in my life. OK. Let's face it. Hundreds of times.

I like to plan things. Right down to the smallest detail. I love my to-do lists and my planning lists and my REALLY BIG lists.

And I'll admit it. I would like it if everyone else in the world was just like me. They would have all of the details on a list and a neat little check mark beside each completed task.

But I've been learning a lot during the past three months. As I'm sure you remember, I started working for my church back in June. As part of my job, I have the great privilege to get to be part of some of the planning of our Sunday morning services and other things that happen throughout the week.

And being the highly anal, um... I mean, wonderfully organized person that I am, I would love everything to be neatly planned and perfectly executed.

Then, in walk all the people.

You know the ones. The real people. The ones with real lives. And real jobs. Real kids. Real marriages. Real issues. Real heartaches. Real needs. Real financial problems. Real struggles. Really, really serious struggles.

And one minute after getting everything just exactly the perfect way that it should work beautifully, things get messy. Because sometimes real people don't fit neatly in a tiny little box that is totally organized and wonderfully planned.

Nope.

We are actually doing the things we do for real people. We're not trying to create the most organized, beautiful church in the world. We're trying to reach out to real people and make an impact in their lives.

I'm starting to see disorganization in a new way. It's kind of like the laundry that builds up in my house into huge piles that spill out from every bedroom. Those dirty, stinky clothes are a sign of the people that live here, eat here, cry here, learn here, grow here and love here.

When things are in disarray and falling apart, it just might be a sign that good things are happening. Real people are walking in the door with real problems. And we're willing to drop our agenda, our plan and our wonderful to-do list to try to help. To show them the way to the One who can help.

And that's when chaos becomes a beautiful thing.

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