Today’s Post By: Rae Lynn DeAngelis
Manure, dung, droppings, excrement. They are all labels for the same thing. For the sake of keeping my post PG, I’ll skip over the more offensive tags. (I’m sure you can fill-in-the-blanks on your own.)
Without getting too graphic, it’s the left over waste material after nutrients are extracted from ingested food. No longer useful, the odorous byproduct is eliminated.
Where am I going with this?
Hang with me. I actually do have a point.
Humans, animals, plants, insects, and even microorganisms produce some sort of waste material. Some living things produce more waste than others. For example, the average cow produces 65 pounds of manure in a single day. Now that’s a lot of pooh!
It’s amazing to think that something as noxious as manure could actually spawn growth in another living thing, and yet that’s exactly it does—a principle which holds true in both the physical realm, as well as the spiritual.
Amazingly, God is able to take a lifetime of messiness in our lives and use it for good. Past mistakes become agents for growth in us as well as others.
Unfortunately, the enemy would have us to believe otherwise. He tries to convince us that our messed up lives and painful life experiences are better off locked away in the dark recesses of our subconscious; and as a result, we hide behind carefully manufactured façades that imply we have it all together. We cannot unveil our imperfect lives because we fear what others might think. And because so many others are doing the same exact thing, we all end up with a warped sense of reality.
“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
Here’s the truth of the matter. People want to know the real us, not some watered-down, glamourized version that’s plastered across the walls of our Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest accounts.
Why?
Because real people identify with real people!
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
There is nothing more alluring than an authentic person who doesn’t pretend to have it all together, a person who is honest about their weaknesses, their struggles, and their strife. When you and I share our soiled—not so perfect lives with others, God does more than we can imagine through His power that is at work within us. He takes our mess and turns it into a message of hope for others.
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)
It’s time to get real, and be a catalyst for growth in others.
