Muddy and Tattered

No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us: it is the very sign of His presence.

-Letters of C. S. Lewis

20th January 1942

The inspiration and thought behind "Muddy Musings" came from this quote from one of C.S. Lewis' letters. Of course something written by C.S. Lewis would serve as inspiration; is that even a surprise? I read anything and everything written by C.S. Lewis and I find myself underlining sentences so much that I keep a pen in my hand as I read.

The thought that God is present in our muddiness, our mess-ups, and our failings struck me as something that many meditations and musings could explore. It was almost a new concept of thinking to me. That God's presence is as much in the mud that is caked on our souls, as it is in the good we do and the success we achieve. God doesn't pick and choose what pieces of our lives to be a part of. It is everything pretty and everything ugly and He can use all of it for His glory.

Even our riven pieces. God can use our brokenness to produce wholeness, healing, and goodness if we let Him. And we are bound to fall and become tattered every now and then, but as long as we get back up and don't give up then it doesn't matter how many times we have fallen. The world dictates our worthiness by how much money we make and how successful we are, but with God and His eternal kingdom, it matters not that we make money well, but that we believe well.

So how can life be so beautiful but also so broken? It occurred to me that God's broken people can contribute their talents and passions wherever they may be, for the good that God has in store.

(Another, less important detail from C.S. Lewis' letter that I took notice of was the date. January 20th is my birthday, and though he wrote the letter 42 years before I was born, it still grabbed my attention and offered an interesting detail to note.)