Cranky days. Stressed out days. Confused or anxious days. Days that we end up thinking, saying, or doing wrong things. Please tell me that some of you, in fact, also have days when you finally look up at the heavens and say, “Lord, I’m a mess. Please help me.”

Yes, I imagine most of us can be a mess mood-wise every now and then. Hormones might play havoc with our moods at times, but other times we may not be handling stress very well or we might have fallen prey to the tactics of our spiritual adversary, the devil. He loves to keep us tied up in fear, anxiety, or confusion. He loves to make a mess of us.

Some days we’re a mess physically. It might be due to lack of sleep or a health problem that we battle at times. For me it might be lingering symptoms of my post-concussion syndrome or some sore joints associated with the inflammatory arthritis that began paying me visits when I was just in my thirties. And every now and then I get sick with other illnesses or bugs. I’ve even been known to injure myself. You too? Yes, sometimes we’re a mess.

Occasionally, the mess-monster invades our work lives. For me, that’s my writing efforts. At times I can’t seem to move forward or get past the hurdle of the blank page. Getting started on a new piece—whether  an article, a chapter, or a blog post—is one of the hardest parts of writing for me. That’s when I allow distractions to derail my progress.

Other times, my brain feels foggy or clogged. The words don’t flow and I struggle for each sentence. I grow more frustrated by the minute because I’m falling further behind in paring down the stack of projects I’m trying to complete. So yes, sometimes I’m a writing mess. And I bet you feel like a mess in your work life at times too. Am I right?

And then there’s our spiritual lives. We can also be a mess in that area. As I mentioned before, the enemy tries to color our moods and emotions, but he also does his best to keep us falling into the traps we’re most vulnerable to. For me that can be pride, a critical spirit, or the tendency to try to perform to stay in God’s good graces even though Jesus has already done that for me. For you those traps may be different, but we all fall into them, don’t we? We can all be a bit of a mess spiritually at times, can’t we?

The good news is that God doesn’t turn us away when we’re having messy days. He wants us to cry out to him and admit when we’re a mess. In fact, he probably wonders why we don’t do it earlier.

Next time the mess-monster comes calling, how about we apply the brakes earlier than usual? Why not cry out for help earlier? Our God is ready and waiting to come to our aid. We’ll all—our families included—be the better for it.

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NIV

*What other tips could you recommend for dealing with the mess-monster?

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*Flickr photo by greg westfall, Creative Commons License