Driving in the car.

Stuck in Chicago traffic.

“Dad! B-man is throwing up all over himself!”

Sarah is driving. I am reaching over the carseat, trying to clean the 1.5 year old up.

Sarah pulls over, and we dive into the mess together.

B-man stands buck naked on the sidewalk. In the rain. Crying.

Grab a new set of clothes from the trunk. Get warm in the front seat with mom. Clean up the car seat with a bunch of baby wipes.

Get back on the road. Fight traffic to our final destination. 9 miles in 79 minutes.

Messes can sneak up on us. They catch us by surprise every now and then.

If we sit in them… well….it gets stinky…

If we meet the mess head on, pause to pull over, and lean into fighting the mess with a teammate, we might actually make some progress in cleaning up the mess.

What type of messes do we find ourselves in today?

It could be something big or small in marriage.

Maybe a remark made to a colleague that  we regret. Dive in. Own it and ask for forgiveness or grace.

Or we treated a customer dishonestly.

Stop now. Clean it up. Make it right with that colleague/partner/spouse/customer.

When we enter the mess, relationships stay in tact, we build trust with those around us, and ideas, mission and values move forward.

May we choose to enter into the mess today. May we all do it honestly. May we all do it with integrity & courage.

Kevin

PS – So… we made it to our friend’s house. The mess was messy. But we navigated it quickly, honestly and with care. I’m really thankful for my teammate!