There are days when this life is a little bottle, full to the brim of tiny dots.
Not at all cohesive. No harmony caught by my eyes.
Just so many multicolored candy sprinkles, falling and rolling and sneaking into every black crevice.
I sigh.
Oh, why?
Why doesn’t the lid stay on the bottle? Why do little hands tip it? Why does the sweeping up of the mess only serve to create more mess?
But I find a cloth, a broom, a dustpan.
Gathering each miniature colored ball, wet from the cloth and dragging stripes of red, blue, green across the tile.
My mind gathers the scattered places of our days with each stroke of the broom.
Each tiny detail. The appointments I forget. The meetings I keep. The words I speak. The thoughts I don’t share. The beautiful. The ugly.
Sprinkles. So many sprinkles.
What to do with them?
I hold in my palm a tiny multicolored mountain.
Pausing. Stopping. Looking down. Actually seeing the little pieces of sweet candy.
The blue, the red, the yellow, the green.
What a colorful mess.
What is one to do with a handful of gathered sprinkles?
Does she toss them into a pail, nothing but waste? Does she hold them under a running faucet until the color is drained from them and they slip down the drain?
No.
They may be a conglomeration of scattered bits.
But together… a bit of bright beauty.
Messy beauty is still beauty.
So, we make cupcakes. And we put the last bit of still-bottled sprinkles on top.
And we call it a day.
A beautiful, messy day.
By Ashleigh Baker, Heart and Home
ABOUT ASHLEIGH BAKER
Ashleigh Baker seeks poetry in prose at Heart and Home while raising two little boys and talking to her deployed Marine via international phone lines....
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Bless you for finding the heart and inspiration to end a hard day with cupcakes, especially with your Marine deployed! I have an Airman, and know what long lonely days missing him look like. I aspire to be the kind of woman who still sees beauty in the messy days, but I’ve got a ways to go… Thanks for being an example! :0)
Beautifully written. I’ve been discouraged lately. This post has reminded me that my family is valuable and I should remmber that instead of complaining and being grumpy with them.
Messy beauty is still beauty.
So very true.
Thanks for the sweet reminder to think about whatever is pure, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, excellent and praiseworthy. :)
Loved this, Ash. Messy can be so beautiful. I’m so glad we serve a Heavenly Father who views us the same way. Thanks for sharing!
I love what LeAnna just said…that our Heavenly Father uses us, even when we are messy and not all put together, and we are scattered all over everywhere….He is so good…and He makes something beautiful out of messy people….like us. Thank you for this post….
Love your beautiful, rainbow-colored view of life!!
Oh the messes that fill a mommy’s days…and the ever-present challenge to find in them the beauty that we’re meant to. Thank you for this reminder, friend.
Kinda like when life deals you lemons, make lemonade!
I loved this! Its all in your perspective :-)
Praise GOD…
HE is so amazing to show us the beauty in the small things!!
Blessings to you,
Tina
I have nothing but great big puffy heart love for this post, thank you so much for sharing your sprinkles with us today! <3 Melissa :)
So many sprinkles in our lives but they do add color and beauty, just like you said. Even if it is messy. I’m glad beauty can be beauty even if it’s messy.
Blessings,
Janis
So true. So right. So beautiful.
Ginger~
Yes, messy beauty is still beauty. Love your writing. Thanks for encouraging all of us.
Messy beauty…too often the kind I don’t want floating around my house…but still beauty.
“Messy beauty is still beauty.” Oh, I adore how you said this, Ashleigh. And you are loveliness through and through. Thanks for sharing with us! Mwah!
Just wished to say that I read your blog really regularly and I’m at all times amazed at a few of the stuff consumers post below. But keep up the beneficial function, it’s usually helpful.
{ 1 trackback }