Beautiful gross truth.

"Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox."
 Proverbs 14:4

Like almost everyone I know, I find stepping out of my habits challenging. If you know me really well you would understand the level of habit that I am talking about. I really don't believe that there is anything wrong with habit in itself. I am discovering that it's the attachment to our habits that halts the growth that is in store for us.
Everyday I see how beautiful honesty is. I would go so far as to suggest that beauty is synonymous for honesty. Looking at a sunset is beautiful. Giving someone your honesty is beautiful. Being honest with someone is pretty much like giving them a gorgeous view of an awesome sunset, at least that is how I feel when someone totally dismisses all of their 'stuff' just to be real with me. It may seem ugly, gross, awkward or weird to show the truth...but that doesn't mean that speaking the truth is not beautiful. It means that we are actually going places.
I have been challenged by seeing that I have attachments to a lot of things in this world...more than I had anticipated. That is where I am at, and that is ok. I'd rather be honest about that than live in any sort of cover-up. Continuing life in the cover-up may be clean and dandy, nor does it seem like I am hurting anyone. But there is so much more! There is a sunset out there waiting for me to see. And I get to see it. Nothing is holding me back. Yes, getting there might be a little messy, but the truth is so sweet. I might have to sleep all day after I get there, but I know that when I wake up I am at a newer, freer and stronger place than I was at before.
We kind of get to do this our whole lives. The excitement really never ends once we see that sunset. Because God always digs deeper to take us closer to Him. At the same time, He comes down to where we are at to do the digging and then walks us up the messy, but beautiful, path to see that sunset.