Yesterday was just one of those days for me. It started on a semi-okay note, and just sort of went downhill quickly from the moment I woke up. Our house was in disarray because we had purchased some new storage furniture from IKEA the day before. We're working on converting our traditional dining room into a multi-functional work and dining space for the family. I love the idea of re-working a room, but always forget that we have to pull a room completely apart and re-organize and de-clutter to make it come back together the way we envisioned it being.

Hubby got the kids off to school, and set out for work yesterday morning, as usual. I spent the morning hours working from home, the mess in the dining room staring at me, all the while. The clock ticked and tocked and before I knew it, it was time to pick my sweet girl up from school. 

We dashed home to have a bite of lunch, and my sweet Bean played while I tackled sorting through containers of Play-Doh, broken crayons, coloring books, and various art supply items. After a couple of hours, it was time to head out to pick up my son from school. As Bean and I were getting our coats on, I knocked over a container that held a large number of aqua beads... you know the ones... they start out tiny, you add them to water, and they enlarge. They are colorful, squishy, fun, and it's every mom's worst nightmare to find them all over the floor, as they are nearly impossible to pick up.

They were everywhere! All over the kitchen, rolling into the already way too messy dining room, and my toddler was dancing around in them, squishing them one by one with her shoes on. We had about three minutes before we needed to leave. I knew I couldn't leave those brightly colored water-filled balls all over the floor, or the kids would have a squish and squash fest upon re-entering the house.

In a hurry, Bean and I picked up each and every tiny aqua bead that we could physically see and reach without too much effort. I breathed a sigh of relief and we headed off.

Once we were back home, before I even managed to take my coat off, Bean managed to find a rogue crayon and colored all over her brand new desk. I yelled, scaring her. She cried, but ran to me for comfort, anyway. We sat in the middle of the floor together, and I hugged her. She said she was sorry for coloring on the desk, and I said I was sorry for yelling, telling her that I loved her. We marched off to the pantry to find the baking soda and together, we scrubbed the crayon scribbles off of the desk, making it look like new again. Bean was over the incident within a minute or two- laughing, running, playing as if nothing ever happened.

As I cleaned up the baking soda and washed out the rag we used to erase the crayon marks, I thought about our hearts. Just as my two-year-old scribbled all over her new desk, making tons of dark, ugly marks, I had reacted too quickly in the moment, leaving dark, ugly marks on my own heart and on my daughter's, as well. But the baking soda erased those marks as if they were never even there.

Friends, God does that very thing for us. His love, His mercy, His grace give us a clean start over and over again. I've made a lot of ugly marks in my life. Heck, I even colored all over the pink walls of my bedroom when I was a little girl. Did my mom love the fact that I did that? Um... that'd be a big 'nope,' but she kept on loving me. If you ever think you've done something that's so awful that it makes you unworthy of God's love, think again. You're His child... you're claimed by God, and He loves you, unconditionally, and always.

So, when it's been one of those days... take a breath, ask for forgiveness if you need to, surrender your stomped on, marked up heart to the one who holds you in the palm of His hand. When it's been one of those days, it's okay to sit in the mess (because God will meet you there)- but don't forget to look up, child.

Wishing you a day filled with hope and peace!