Chaos Before Order

So we decided this week to move our “library” (a set of floor-ceiling bookshelves crammed with books) from what had been the formal dining room into our actual living room. We like being surrounded by our books, and with our love seat now gone to reside in our daughter’s first off campus apartment, we had room. So we (read: I) unloaded all the books and we (read: the guys) moved the shelves. It’s going to be great! Eventually. Right now it is chaos.

Not like I didn’t already have chaos going on, though the other chaos has been in my head and on my computer. I’ve been rearranging scenes, rewriting transitions, refining characters to the point that I had to quit and print it all out because the revisions became such a mess! I like where this story is going. It’ll get there, too. Eventually.

Both of these things, one right on the heels of the other, reminded me that this process is indicative of so many areas of life. When we see a need to bring change and order to a space or a project or even in our own habits and character, there is chaos before order. A tearing down of the old to erect the new. Not really surprising that’s how God works, too. Think about creation. Chaos (without form and void) into order (And God saw that it was good.)

While any chaos makes me crazy, if I keep in mind the vision that precipitated the chaos, I’ll persevere until I reach order. In that moment of order, I can relax, savor the accomplishment. But only for that moment. Because as soon as I move forward, some other change will present itself, ready for the breaking down so it can be built back up.

What kind of chaos are you in the midst of right now? Can you see the order that will eventually come from it yet?