I just stopped for a minute yesterday to capture this candid photo of my house right now.

(please ask me why a TV tray is in the middle of the room, because I have no idea)

I wish I could say my house only looks this chaotic because we have a floor guy here redoing the kitchen and laundry room, but God (and my husband) knows that it looks like this most days.

Let me get right to it... I am discontent about the messiness in my life. But mostly, how to go about fixing it.

Tell me, oh wise mothers... is it possible to have a toddler AND a clean house? How do you do laundry without a small child tearing apart everything you just folded? How do you clean the kitchen without also having to offer up a "snack" in the meantime (which ends up leaving crumbs and residue all over the floor?) How can you vacuum the house and not also vacuum up a small Lego piece or worse, your child's curious toes that are chasing you everywhere?

Am I the only one struggling here?

I want a clean house. I'm supposed to have a CLEAN house. I'm a stay-at-home mom, after all.

This is really an area of my life that I feel so insecure in. Mostly because we like to have people over, but the mess just makes me feel like a slob. And I'd rather just sit in my mess alone, than welcome someone to come join in the mess with me.

Sounds a lot like my spiritual life too.

Why is it that we are afraid to let people see the real us? The messy us? Because, admit it, even the cleanest among us has to poop.

I know for me at least, I feel like my worth is measured by how little of a mess I appear to have. Like people would want to be around me more if I appear like I have it all together.

When really, the opposite is true.

I appreciate those who I can sit down at lunch with and be completely genuine. Who I can invite over in the middle of the day, when Micah is going full storm all over the house leaving trails of toys and they can sit back and laugh with me.

Will my house ever be clean again? I really hope so. But in the meantime, I'm going to be content with the blessing that I have a beautiful, healthy child to go around messing it up.

So I apologize if you come over and experience a little chaos. I want you to know that the fact that you are over at my house is more important than having everything perfectly put together. And I hope you leave feeling maybe a little encouraged in your own mess, whatever it is.

Sometimes the best encouragement is just knowing that we're not alone.

This post is part of a series I’m writing for the month of October entitled “31 Days of Being Content.”  See all other posts in this series by clicking here. Or enter your email address in the sidebar on the right to subscribe to this blog and receive posts straight to your inbox!