Quotable: God's glory in our mess

"My internal messiness is a thin place for me where I realize God loves messy. He delights in my raggedy ways. Why? Because He redeems my messes. Cleans them up. Polishes them until they shine so bright the reflection of Jesus smiles back. Paul affirms this. He says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NASB). Clean shiny folks don’t have the sacred privilege of understanding God’s greatness or power because they’re so full of their own beauty. Messy folks understand the metaphor of an earthen vessel, a clay pot, a canister that holds refuse. And, in that humble state of mess-dom, we welcome the beauty of Jesus within. So, yeah, I’m a raggedy mess. But God loves the socks off me anyway. I’m a cracked pot, a vessel God shines His loveliness through. Thank goodness for the cracks; otherwise how would God’s glory shine out?"

From Thin Places: A Memoir by Mary DeMuth