Is This My Mess To Carry?

Verses
“So here’s what I’ve learned through it all:
Leave all your cares and anxieties at the feet of the Lord,
and measureless grace will strengthen you.” Psalm 55:22

Devotion
I was walking up the stairs in my house the other day, and passed a pair of dirty socks (belonging to one of my kids) that had been sitting there for days. With all this time together, I’ve been on a personal journey of trying not to pick up after my kids. Side note: this is SO hard and I don’t always stick to it. Once again, I passed the socks and even though I felt the pull to pick them up, I reminded myself, “nope, not my responsibility”. This is obviously a small thing, but the bigger picture here is that I chose not to pick up something that wasn’t mine to carry.

There are so many “messes” lying around these days right? Whether they’re in your house, in your mind and heart, on social media when you scroll, and in the news. But just because there’s a mess, doesn’t mean it’s always yours to “pick up”, think about, or try to figure out. We have a choice in what we pick up and engage in and no one is responsible or able to pick up every mess they see. When we fill our arms and our minds with stuff we aren’t intended to carry, we get weighed down and it’s hard to experience the “measureless grace” of God that will strengthen us, that the Psalm talks about.

Of course there are messes in our homes, our minds, and our emotions that ARE ours to take care of, but even with these, we aren’t left on our own. When you’re looking at a mess or a problem of any kind right now, we can bring it to God and hand it over to Him. This reminds us that He cares about us and the mess we’re trying to take care of, and that we aren’t intended to fix it or carry it alone. There is “measureless grace” to strengthen us when we give our messes to God, and let him love us and speak to us.

When we encounter a mess or problem of any kind, first ask yourself and God if it’s yours to pick up or solve. If it’s not, just walk on by that dirty pair of socks. If it is yours, first bring it to God so that you remember you’re not alone. Let his measureless grace strengthen you as He helps you take care of whatever messy thing you’re facing today.