It’s springtime! Isn’t it great? As much as I love fall and winter, I can still agree that there’s something special about spring. It’s exciting to watch the world wake up when the ground warms up and thaws out. Everything outdoors is alive and growing. I love hearing the meadowlarks singing in the distance outside my back door and seeing the trees cover their bare branches with new leaves. I can’t wait to get some planting done, though here in WY we’ve got a few more weeks before the danger of frost is gone.
Our new house has a great big backyard – significantly bigger than the backyard we had where we lived before. There’s room for a nice sized garden and everything! We were all pretty excited about it when we moved in – especially the kids and the dogs. The kids were pulling each other around the space in my old wooden wagon and planning all sorts of activities they were going to do. Of course, due to the time of year we moved in, it soon became less attractive to be outside as often – brrr! And then it snowed. Now, we haven’t had a whole lot of snow this year overall, but, nevertheless; a problem has become apparent, which is aggravated even more as the ground now begins to thaw…
I love outdoor spaces. I dreamt of acreage as we were house shopping, but budget constraints put a large yard on my list of hoped-for items instead. Soo… I’m not complaining about the space, exactly. I do like it. And I’m okay with some yard work and maintenance. But… there is an issue… with melting snow (or rain) and MUD. The grass is kind of thin overall, and nonexistent in spots. We also have dogs that enjoy spending a large part of the day outside. Whatever the weather, they run around and play and come to the door to be let in… and when they come in, they now bring a good portion of our yard with them. Ugh! Our 2-year-old Labrador has the typical 2-year-old Labrador enthusiasm, which regularly sends her tail into a frenzy, spraying droplets of mud across furniture and walls. Then we also have a Corgi, and he collects probably a cupful (or more) of dirt on his low-slung underbelly and deposits it liberally wherever he goes. Both of them grace the kitchen floor, rugs, and carpets with chunks of earth and large, brown pawprints (not to mention the springtime shedding explosion that’s happening simultaneously). The vacuum and the mop are indispensable right now, to say the least.
A little while ago it finally dried out after about two solid weeks of muddy mayhem, so I bathed the dogs – which was no small undertaking. The aftermath required me to deep clean the entire bathroom, too (you should have seen my walls!), so this was an entire half-day project. The two of them were so nice and clean and they smelled lovely… for three days. Then it snowed again (of course), and two days later the mud was back, too. Isn’t spring so lovely? Oh, to be a dog and not care how dirty you are!
Mud. It’s just part of life – whether or not you have a dog. Literal mud… and figurative mud. Getting through the tough times in life can sometimes feel like wallowing in deep mud. You’re moving, but not getting anywhere very quickly, and everything looks and feels a mess.
When PJ and I faced each other a little over a year ago and recognized how broken our marriage had become, we were at a crossroads. Where would we go from there? It really didn’t take a whole lot of discussion for us to come to the determination that we both wanted to work on things, but it has been a long journey we’ve been on since that point. God has brought much healing and restoration into our lives, but there have been many challenges as well. It definitely has been, and continues to be, a process. Sometimes marriage - and life - feel a bit like our backyard looks. There are times when the ground is solid, and things are really good. Walking is easy. We might have to brush a little dust off of our feet from time to time, but overall it’s pretty smooth sailing. Then it rains. Or snows. Maybe a little, maybe a lot; but either way, it creates some “mud.” Past hurts, current offenses, miscommunications and misunderstandings, selfishness and pride, anxiety, difficult circumstances… things like these have us collecting some muck in our minds, making it harder to continue moving forward. I’m betting you can identify with this as well. Whether in marriage, other relationships, or just life circumstances in general, we all go through these times.
To be sure, I’m not writing this from the perspective of a person who has everything figured out! There have been plenty of times when I wished that God would just come in with a pressure washer and blast all the grime away in an instant, never to return, so that I could be done with all the mess just like that. However, I think it’s important to recognize that there is value in the “cleaning” process. I think that’s why God doesn’t just rush in to rescue us from every little difficulty every single time we run into one. We try not to do that when teaching our children, so why do would we expect our heavenly Father to do it with us? We love our kids and want them to be able to problem-solve later in life, so sometimes we have to allow them to figure something out instead of reaching in and doing it for them right away. Of course, we are there beside them to offer assistance if and when it’s needed, but there is importance in them learning to work through some challenging things, too. We would do a disservice to them if we always did everything for them. Just like our kids, we ourselves learn perseverance in the process of working through things. We learn how to move towards our goal instead of attempting to run from our problems. We learn how to communicate more effectively. We learn more about each other – and about our own selves. We learn to trust God because, time and again, He has proven to us that He always is, and always will be, there to help us through. As He shows us His faithfulness, our confidence in Him should only grow deeper. He’s not going to leave us in the mud. He desires for us to walk on solid ground again, and for our experiences in the low places to be a learning opportunity for us – and not only for us, but also for those around us who have seen and heard our testimony. David speaks to this through his words in Psalm 40:
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.”
-Psalm 40: 1-3 (NIV)
Just as I don’t really enjoy the muddy-paw days of spring, I also don’t really enjoy the muddy-life times. I’m sure very few of us do. There are things in the past that I wish I could delete as easily as I can delete a typo and leave no hint that it was ever there. Well… sort of. I sort of wish that, in a way. As much as I wish certain things had never happened, I also wouldn’t want to trade the lessons that I learned as I walked through those times. I’m not really thankful for the tough times themselves, but I’m more than a little grateful for what God taught me as He walked me through them, and I’m grateful for my “new song.”
So, wherever you’re at – cruising along on solid ground or slogging through knee-deep mire – remember to thank God for His constant presence in your life. Deal with the mud as it comes. Face it head-on with God by your side, and be open to what you can learn in the process. There will be drier days ahead.
