Have You Ever Made A Hot Mess?

Have you ever tried to look cute or look your best and somehow you just ended up looking like a hot mess?

Been there, done that. Soooo many times. Where do I begin? How about the day I was trying to be cute and bought some thigh high stockings. Everything started out okay...I was running my errands around town and still feeling cute...until they rolled down around my ankles while I was in the middle of the BB&T in Smithfield. Yeah, I hope they destroy those bank security camera videos after a while. What if there had been a bank robbery or something suspicious had happened at the bank that day and lots of detectives and official people had to view the bank video camera recordings from that day? Can you imagine them at the Smithfield Police station viewing my thigh-high fiasco?

What about the day I went to my son's Boy Scout function at a church in Pine Level...
I sashayed myself all around the church and the fellowship hall and shook hands and mingled and just talked to EVERYBODY and walked around taking pictures. I had myself a grand old time.Then, at the end of the event looked down and realized I had on one tan shoe and one navy shoe. Do these things happen to anybody but me?

What about the first time I dyed my hair? It was way too dark...black as midnight. I didn't know whether I was Elizabeth Taylor, Snow White, or Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.  One of my little girl scouts was trying to pay me a compliment and said, "Wow, Miss Leigh-Ann, you look gothic!" (Not what I wanted to hear at that moment.)

I returned home once after a  haircut...and I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision about the cut, but I was trying to be hopeful. My oldest son who was about four at the time, saw me and immediately said, "What is your hair doing?" That's not a good sign.

Sometimes you already have misgivings about a hairdo or an outfit, but you just try to make it work, try to "pull it off".  I had a favorite skirt that I loved...It was long and had lavendar, yellow and white flowers. I wore it with a lavendar sweater. Unfortunately, the lavendar sweater became ripped, and I could not wear the skirt until I found a new sweater to match. Unable to find a lavendar sweater, I settled for a yellow sweater. Now, I know that I don't need to wear yellow. First, I am pale as a ghost. Yellow is the last color a pale, white girl needs to wear. Second, pale yellow is not a "big girl's" friend...enough said. I knew I did not need to wear yellow...but I wanted to wear my favorite skirt sooooo bad, I bought the yellow sweater anyway. One Sunday morning, I headed out for church, so happy to be wearing my favorite skirt again...sporting it with my new pale yellow sweater. My youngest son, watched me head to the car and remarked dryly as I passed by, "Well, you look like a big ole banana". Out of the mouths of babes....

So what's the point of all my crazy stories? I think the common thread in my fashion and beauty mis-adventures was that I was trying too hard. Have you ever seen someone that was trying too hard to fit in? It just makes matters worse. The result is that they only stand out more.  When I tried to make the yellow sweater work, even though I knew deep down inside that it wasn't right for me....the result was disastrous. Just another hot mess.

In addition to my beauty misfortunes, I also like to think I am Martha Stewart. I bought a bunch of supplies at Carolina Pottery and at Dewayne's last year and attempted a Christmas flower arrangement. What was the result, you ask? I had to call in a professional. I finally bagged all of my mess up and took it to a florist and said, "Look, I've got a hot mess in this bag and I need you to fix it." (I really did say that. Go ask J.J. at Casey's Florist in Princeton!) Guess what happened after he fixed it? I LOVED IT! A professional was able to take my hot mess and turn it into something beautiful.

Sometimes, you have to call in the expert. Sometimes you have to just stop trying to do it yourself. Sometimes you just have to turn your hot mess over to someone that knows what to do!

Have you made a mess in some area of your life? Turn it over to the expert. Give it to God. Isaiah 61 says he will give us beauty for ashes, the spirit of praise for the spirit of despair. Your tears will one day turn to joy. Your mourning will turn into dancing. Stop trying to fix the situation yourself.  Sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut and leave it alone and let God handle it in HIS timing.  Sometimes you just don't do anything else about "it" and you just don't talk about "it" any more except when you're talking to God in prayer about "it".

What "hot mess" in your life do you need to turn over to Him today?