Get Messy

My husband took Jack out and about the other day, to work and then on some errands. They stopped for coffee and grabbed Jack a smoothie. 

This particular coffee stop puts a nice little chocolate covered coffee bean on the top of your cup or your whip cream, it's an added touch of yum. Jack was super excited to see his bean on top and just as he was about to snatch it up, it sunk to the bottom of his cup. 

Bummer. 

He asked, "Daddy, can I get it?"

"No buddy, we're going to have to wait until we can get home so I can dig it out for you, if you tried right now, it'd make a big mess."

"Okay" 

As my husband recounted this story to me, he brought up this perfect analogy. 

I had to share because it got me. 

You know what? If we would have let him, Jack would have dug right in and despite the sticky mess, he'd have grabbed up that chocolate bean in a heartbeat. There would have been whip cream all over his hands, his shirt and probably the car.

It'd be an absolute mess, but it would have been worth it because, he got the bean. 

Why not? Why not let him get messy? What's the big deal? So you have to wipe up a mess later and do a bit more laundry....for what? For pure joy. For that one moment of joy and abandon, the worst you'd get is a mess.

When did we become like that? When did we lose that recklessness? When did we start worrying about the minor messes, and the minor inconveniences and stop just going for it? 

We get caught up in the little stuff and we forget to just do it. 

We forget what that feeling is like, to not worry about it and just dig in.

There's this awesome thing out there God has for you, and you don't dive in because you might get messy. You might mess up someone else's plans, or disappoint someone else, so instead of just digging in you play it safe. You may lose a bit, you may lose a lot...but it's worth it.

He's not even 4 years old and we are already training him to be worried about something so insignificant and that bothers me. 

I don't want him to worry about the little things that are only bumps in the road, I want him to dig in and go for the ultimate, for the greatest God has for him. 

I want him to get messy, and take a risk. I want to take a risk...I can wipe up the crumbs later. 

Are we willing to get messy in order to have the best God intends for us, or are we okay with staying safe and clean?

I'm ready to get messy. 

You?