I meant to write about this book a while ago, but it slipped my mind. Quite a few months ago I read “Messy Spirituality” by Mike Yaconelli. I heard him speak at a conference back in college, and that combined with the title of the book made me order it sight unseen. That turned out to be a good choice. From the back cover:
“Mike Yaconelli dares to suggest that imperfection, unfinishedness, and messiness are, in fact, the earmarks of true Christianity; that real Christianity is messy, erratic, lopsided… and gloriously liberating. What if genuine faith begins with admitting we will never have out act completely together? Maybe messy disciples are exactly the kind of imperfect people Jesus came to earth for and whose company he actually enjoyed - and still enjoys.”
I found it to be a very thought-provoking book, and most of what Yaconelli had to say rings very true. Sometimes, as we try to act like we have everything together in front of other people, we begin to think that we really do have to have everything together in order to be “okay”. This book is a great antidote to that kind of thinking, and a reminder that it’s okay to be honest about the messiness of our lives.