I’m hoarse from calling for help, Bleary-eyed from searching the sky for God. Psalm 69:3 (TM)

Ask those who know me and they’ll tell you that I’m generally an upbeat person. If I was a psalmist, I imagine myself being a lot like David. You would find my songs and lyrics filled with gladness and celebration most of the time. But, like David, I’m going to have my periods of struggle. I have to express that too, or my psalms wouldn’t be true. The dark valleys are as much a part of the journey as the inspirational vistas seen from high places.

In the book, The Shack, a man named Mack spends a weekend with God. In one particular scene, Mack is invited to do some gardening with Holy Spirit. Mack sees the garden and is struck by what a mess it is. The two go to work, digging and pruning and uprooting. As they work, Mack grows strangely comfortable with this space, this garden. Holy Spirit eventually reveals to him why:

"…this garden is your soul. This mess is you! Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And it is wild and beautiful and perfectly in process. To you it seems like a mess, but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive — a living fractal."

Life is a mess sometimes. You go hoarse from crying out to God. Your eyes grow tired of searching for God’s purpose. Yet, this is part of the "mess" through which God brings forth a "living fractal."

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Kevin Dooley.