Life is good when it is neat and tidy. Would you not agree? Life is good when things are rocking along with the least amount of complications. I came to work bright and early one morning last week. Life was good that morning until I read the obituaries in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal online.

My best friend from junior high lost his dad. The man’s obituary appeared in the online edition of the newspaper. I felt really bad for him and his younger sister. I felt called to reach out to both of them, but there was negative history there. My friend and I had grown distant when were in college. Our parting was not a good one, and I lay the blame right at my own feet. I wanted to leave things alone. That would keep things in my life neat and tidy.

The spiritual nudging I felt finally won. I started using my investigator skills to track down both my friend and his sister. Facebook is pretty useful little tool.
I found her first. She was cordial and kind in her response. She encouraged me to come to the funeral service and in turn join the family for a meal afterwards at a restaurant in Lubbock.

I left my neat and tidy world Friday morning and headed west. Lots of memories started flooding through my head. Images crossed my mind that had been dormant for nearly 28 years. I laughed to myself and I shed a few private tears as well. When I reached the Lubbock city limits, I started feeling a little anxious.
I yearned for neatness and tidiness. But it was too late…

I greeted my long lost friend before the service began. He told me his mother died in Lubbock on November 7th, 1991. I in turn told him that my mother died on October 30th, 1991….We experienced such a similar tragedy during the same time frame and never knew it…We both knew what it felt like to lose a mother.
A new bond between us was forged very quickly.

I was pretty reflective during the service. More memories vied for space in my head. The time to visit and catch up after the service was rich. The process of reconciliation between my friend and me got underway in earnest. It is not complete, but it has begun. His little sister was…well she was a little sister back in the day. Now she is a very poised lady and mother of three children. The time with her was insightful and encouraging.

I am thankful to say that my neat and tidy world was disrupted last week. God chose to use a time of sadness in someone else’s family to work on my heart, because my heart is far from being neat. It is cluttered with mistakes and pride.

Sometimes I need be reminded of the heart clutter that has been stored for so long that I have nearly forgotten about it…God gladly provides such opportunities, because life is good when our heart is truly and neat and tidy.