The One Thing that Could Cure Our May Madness

Psst… it’s May. I know. I know, we’ve all been whispering it to each other in hopes that our calendars haven’t caught on yet. May. This month of madness that ends our school year and propels us into the summer. It’s staring us right in the face.

So as I scroll through my calendar, I wonder if maybe we just need to shout it from the rooftops. It. Is. May. Bring. It. On.

For the next month, dinner will be every man for himself. We will have quality time while passing each other in the hallway. We will call clean clothes those that are taken from the basket and given a good shake. We will be late. All month long. We will forget to sign a permission slip, forget to send the lunches, forget to wear the class shirt and send 24 popsicles for the party instead of 27. The wrong kid will be taken to the wrong school at the wrong time and our weekends will leave us more exhausted that our work weeks. Amen and welcome to May.

Maybe the way to get through this month is just to own it; to embrace the craziness and be gentle with ourselves. But I’m terrible at implementing this. I want to get it right. I want to overcome this month. And when I fail, I sink under the weight of upended schedules and my own ineptness.

And in the back of my mind, I imagine God shaking his holy head at my inability to handle the blessings he has given me. Why can’t she just get it right? I hear him sigh as I holler at a kid with no shoes and spin back into the driveway for the forgotten cello. I’ve given her so much and look at the mess she’s making with it.

Is that what God really thinks about me?

A friend said something the other day that has been stuck on repeat in my brain. “Leigh,” he said smiling across the table at me, “God is good. He is so good. And he wants to give us good things. You’ve got to believe that.”

I nodded and smiled back. But my heart wondered all day. Do I believe that? Do I believe that God is good or do I simply believe that He wants me to be good?

What about you? You, with your full lists of to-dos and your overflowing May calendar. Do you believe that God is good and that he wants good things for you simply because he loves you?

“And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have the power … to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Or are you, like me, rushing headlong into this month unable to believe in a love that is greater than your crazy May.

“Fear not, … it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). But what if I handle the kingdom wrong? What if he gives me these good things; these good people to love, this place to live and these kids to grow and what if I do it wrong? Especially in May. What if I do May all wrong?

And then it is this verse I hear in my head. “I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you in with loving kindness.” These are words the Lord spoke to his people, through the prophet Jeremiah. And the thing is, the Lord’s people hadn’t done any good to earn those words. In fact, they had done so much evil. Yet, still, God pours his love over them. Slowly the words fall on my heart like this.

I have loved you with a love you can’t escape. You can’t “mess up” your way out of my love. You can’t undo my love with your mistakes or even with your crazy month of May. This month is no match for me. I want to be with you in this chaos. I want to bring you my peace, my love, my joy into it. Quit believing the lies that you can earn this. Take a deep breath and receive me.

God is good. He wants good things for us.

And maybe the way we begin to really believe this is to be gentle with ourselves. Where is your doubt? Where is your unbelief? Where are you striving to perfectly perform?

Hand it over. Hand over the whole messy month; the whiny kids, the work, the expectations, the difficult people, the events. Hand them over to the Creator and ask him to hold them. And then you? You hold onto your Father.

And when it goes sideways. Because it will. And when you lose your temper. Because you will. Hold on tighter. He does not walk away. He does not shake his head and leave us in our messes. He comes in. He holds on. He stays present. And he is good. He is always good.

So go on. Go do your May. But go gently. Hold your expectations loosely and your Heavenly Father tightly. And ask him to go with you. He’s already promised that he would.

“And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” And in May. He’ll be with us in May, too.