I’m not a fan of having dirty hands.

With kids, you have to expect it though. I don’t mind dirt when I’m working on something or in the middle of a task. But as soon as it’s done, I want my hands clean. 

When my 9 year old daughter goes to the beach, she loves the sand. She has ever since she was little. She’d get all wet in the ocean, then run up to the dry sand and sit right in it. Or she’d lay down on it and roll around. Completely covering herself in it. 

Then she’d ask me to sit and play with her. Building sandcastles and digging trenches to watch the water flow. I would obviously do it. And we would have fun, but as soon as she was done, all I wanted to do was to get the sand off of my hands. 

My daughters favorite messy creation is what she calls “muck sand”. That is the wettest sand you can find. The part that is either under water constantly or at the very least never has time to dry. She would make us muck sand pies and muck sand drinks or muck sand soup. And I would dutifully sit in the surf and enjoy my muck sand delights. 

When I think of God, one of the first words that come to mind is perfect. Perfect gives the image of purity, bright, unblemished or clean. When I read Genesis 1, I get those same images. God speaking everything into existence. 

Light, land, water, birds, fish, elephants, mosquitoes (why?). Everything is distinct and created by the power of His voice. 

Except one, man.

In Genesis Chapter 2 God does something different. He shoves his hand into the dust/dirt (maybe muck sand) and formed humans. A perfect and unblemished God, getting his hands in the mess to create us.  That’s personal. That’s saying “I love this creation so much that I’ll dirty my hands for it.”

Later on when Jesus walked the earth he continued to get in our mess. He walked on dusty streets. He placed his hands directly on the lepers. He touched dead bodies to bring them back to life. And one time, he even spit into the dirt/sand creating mud or, you guessed it, muck sand, to put into a man’s eyes to heal his blindness. 

Whatever mess or muck you find yourself in, know that the perfect and unblemished Son of God isn’t afraid to get in your muck with you. 

He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. 

He will meet you wherever you may be, to offer you his hand and help you out of your mess. 

-Clay Wise