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My wonderful cousin Naomi, general fountain of knowledge when it comes to books, especially Christian ones, recently sent me a copy of ‘The Ministry of a Messy House’ by Amanda Robbie, after reading my blog How does God bless others through our mess?
Well, blow my socks off if it didn’t just put me out of a job. Mrs R has all the hospitality know-all I’d love to have, and has helpfully published it in one easy-to-read paperback.
![IMG_0168[1]](https://desertmum1.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/img_01681.jpg)
A bit more about the book
On closer inspection, however, I discovered it wasn’t just a book about hospitality, although that’s a recurrent theme from start to finish, and there are plenty of tips and suggestions and perceptive theological links.
This is a book about ‘mess’ in all its forms: relationships, church, kids, food, homes. So, even if you have a spotless home and manage to stay on top of your kids’ toys, this book will teach, challenge and inspire. Its starting point is that we’re all ‘messy’, and what we have to offer is flawed and not always high-quality. But when we offer it to God through offering it to others, He does something special with it.
Now that is a very simplistic summary – but if I went into more detail, there’d be no point in buying it, right?
What I most appreciated was…
…the humour and reality of it all. Also the fact that the author is married to a vicar, like me. Her home-life bears so many similarities to ours, that I found this fascinating reading – especially given that they’re a few years ahead of us. It was encouraging to see how things had worked themselves out in their lives, and to be reminded of why we do what we do.
Here’s a pic of the book so you know what you’re looking for when you rush over to your favourite online bookseller directly after reading this review:
![IMG_0170[1]](https://desertmum1.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/img_01701.jpg)
You’ll enjoy this book if…
…you want something comfortably easy-to-read, radically practical and Biblically truthful. There are pearls of wisdom scattered throughout, and I was certainly kept interested from start to finish.
Buy The Ministry of a Messy House right now!
(And you may also enjoy my 5 Fun Tidy-Up Ideas for Kids…not saying anything. Just leaving it there.)
I need this book in my life!! Our secret is that I dread guests opening the cupboard in the spare room and being flattened by all the washing we’ve removed from the bed and stuffed in there.
Hahaha! Love it! (And I might just steal the tip!)
we use to put things in the spare room and shut the door when folk visited.
Now it’s the nursery where folk want to look at we have a problem
The beauty of a downstairs loo is that no one has an excuse to go upstairs!!! I keep downstairs reasonably tidy/clean but upstairs is a dive!!
This book sounds great. I’m also a vicars wife whose house is messy! My messy secret is: the reason we open our house up so much to other people is to try to make ourselves keep it tidier. All that actually happens is we do massive panicked tidy ups more frequently!
I basically never open the curtains in our bedroom. Between getting up, putting baby down for naps, and going to bed there’s so little time!
I’m definitely going to buy this book (if I don’t win it!) because I need some further reassurance on it being OK to let people into my less-than-spotless home.
I am expecting double glazing companies to come and do quotes today and tomorrow so I’ve been trying to clear a path to the windows they will want to measure. I uncovered a really bad secret behind the blind which I permanently keep closed over a hard-to-reach tiny window. It’s thick with dust and disgusting yuck behind the blind!! I’m so glad I read this now to remind me to go back with a cloth and some powerful cleaning product before the salesman turns up 🙂
Ooh me please! I have a purportedly very clever dishrack with a purportedly very clever drainage system. There is a removable spout that keeps water flowing into the sink, not onto the countertop. Now it does the job beautifully, but the channel that the water flows down to reach the spout is ALIVE with gunk and impossible to get into and clean. And I don’t care. X
I didn’t dust our flat at all since my daughter was born,more than seven months ago (I finally did it last week!!) Jx
Hi Lucy,
Well I guess I’m disqualified from entering the competition – cause I have no ‘messy secrets’? …..Everyone who has ever been to our house knows full well that we make absolutely no secret of our mess. It’s there in plain sight in every room for all to see!
Oh well.
Collapsable crates are great. Clutter from the living room is swept into them and the crates shoved into our bedroom until everyone’s gone.