Growth in the Messy Middle

With the exception of the donut, the middle of a pastry is always the best. I make it a habit to sit at a local coffee shop + bakery to write, and part of this routine is enjoying a pastry. I just finished a raspberry danish, and the last delicious bite was final bit of the middle filling. Even the donut can have a superb middle. I love a good Boston Kreme donut from Dunkin’ Donuts – the chocolate frosting, doughy pastry, and, of course, the creamy, middle filling.

The middle of a pastry is amazing.

The Messy Middle

Life in the middle is…not amazing. Life lived in the middle is sometimes boring, sometimes messy, sometimes dramatic, sometimes never-ending. Life in the middle is rarely amazing. We live for beginnings and endings. We don’t look forward to the middle of anything.

Each week, I am beginning a few things, I am ending a few things, but most of my life is in the middle. I’m in the middle of a project, a season, a goal. And you are beginning and ending a few things, but most of your life is in the middle.

Mark Twain said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I would add, “Everything else is the middle.” Even the day after determining why you are alive is a new middle. It’s the middle until you accomplish your purpose (or more likely, the day you die).

We hate the middle because it’s not neat and tidy. A bow wrapped around that ”thing” is why I like completion. For you that might be the start. Neat and tidy isn’t life. Life is lived in the middle. And the middle is messy. The middle is unclear. Life in the middle is frustrating. The middle is dramatic. The middle is full of problems.

Even so, within the messy middle there is hope.

Growth in the Middle

If you learn to be comfortable with knowing there won’t be resolution today, you can find rest. If you can live with knowing you might not find an answer right now, you can experience peace. That’s right, in the middle there is rest and peace.

But it’s more than just peace and rest. 

The middle is what grows you. Beginning is easy — you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Who would sign up for parenthood if they could see their baby as a perpetually, sullen thirteen-year-old? Yet, I grow as a parent and a person as I learn to deal with that teenager. Finishing is even easier. The project, argument, class, job is complete. Getting through the middle to completion is what makes you strong. The middle grows your confidence. Growth is in the middle. Life in the middle teaches you contentment and joy. Growth is in the middle.

But it’s more than just growth, peace, rest, joy and contentment.

Jesus in the Middle

Jesus is in the middle. From a theological perspective, Jesus was at the beginning of time, and Jesus will be at the end of time (beginning a whole new timeline). Jesus is the beginning, but we find him in our middle. Jesus is in your middle…right now.

Finding Jesus marks a new beginning, so you’re not alone in your middle. Jesus may end some horrible things in you life, but if not, he’s with you in the middle of your mess. When you know Jesus, you can experience peace, rest, joy and contentment in the middle.

Today, embrace the middle. Embrace the unfinished projects, dreams and goals. There is growth in the middle.