Messy

Life is messy, in far more ways than it is polite to discuss in public.  It is as if we want a fa?ade for life, denying the emotions, activities, and results which make life work.  Don’t worry.  I’m not going to dwell on the role porta-potties play in camping life.  I really don’t want to explore the nuances of what people say as they pay for a hot shower and get cold.  Even the dynamic of living out in the woods where perfume and cologne invite visiting bugs, and spiders regularly try to make their home with you is off limits. 
 
The nuance of camping which confronts me is simply how people get real with each other.  Granted that at this stage it is only the physical side of things, but what a start!  Do you think you might have a bad hair day?  Don’t worry; everyone is in the same boat.  Wearing the same jeans for the third day?  There is a high probability the person next to you is doing the same thing.  Are you fighting the morning fog’s grip on your goose bumps?  Take note of the multiple layers of clothing others are wearing as you walk along.
 
There is something that happens to people when they face the same adversaries and challenges.  Old issues and problems disappear and a common bond develops, if only until they get warm!  Even in days past “the servants and police had made a fire because of the cold and were huddled there warming themselves.  [One called] Peter stood with them, trying to get warm.” (John 18.18)  Life messes bring people together to meet life’s necessities.
 
It is awesome to watch the process of people opening up to others without the pretense of the latest fashion, power of position, or aura of their position.  It is as if the very messiness that we want to ignore comes out in the open to bind us together!  Imagine a world where our struggles and problems were a active part of our relationship.   
 
Life is messy.  Sometimes this is good.