On a recent lazy Saturday morning, while leisurely drinking my coffee and reveling in the fact that I had a whole day at home with nowhere to go and lots of time to catch up around the house, I spotted this: On my back porch the cat had knocked over my plant. Not a big deal, but the back porch is almost the only place where my plants thrive! It brings such joy to look at my flourishing plants, but now one was in a mess. This was an unexpected mess. I hadn't planned for it, didn't want to deal with it, but the only solution is to clean it up. No use in being annoyed or irritated, but to move forward to make it right. Unexpected messes. I thought about in life how each of us faces unexpected messes. When things seem to be going along great, something will pop up to disrupt and distract us. They may be minor messes or major messes, but most messes cannot be planned or fit in nicely with our schedules, they just come. ....