Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life

by Jen Hatmaker

We can retain irreplaceable lessons and core values from every season. We are not entirely rebranded with each new season; we simply build the next layer. Throughout transitions, we embody permanent virtues and become deeply shaped, and as a testament to our design, we are capable of preserving the best of each season while rejecting the worst. The human heart is shockingly resilient.

Layers and seasons--not changing the essence of who you are

Practically, that means making decisions out of fear, drawing conclusions from a place of fear, and getting stuck in the trappings of fear will lead us away from the truth, away from health, away from Jesus. It will, choice by choice, take us further

Simply identifying fear as the dominant emotion is a helpful red flag. It tells us: Whoa up, sister. These thoughts and ideas cannot be trusted.

Life can be hard because life can be hard. We’re not doing it wrong.

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply.1 — JANE AUSTEN

Making your home pretty is nice, but making it nourishing is holy.

It is your little corner of earth, entirely yours to make lovely.

Usually it means prioritizing someone’s dignity, belovedness, and experience over being right or pointing out errors. We may even discover we weren’t so right after all, or at any rate, we didn’t fully understand.