Clear as Mud

Irony. Don’t you love it? Humor with a bite. So it is with the expression “clear as mud.” Words that don’t logically fit together. We all know that “clear” means transparent, whether it’s something physical like a windowpane or something intangible like communication. And we all know that mud isn’t clear. We can’t see anything in mud, much less through it. So when something is not at all apparent, we might sarcastically say that it’s “clear as mud.”

But we humans prefer clarity to muddiness. We like answers to our questions. We desire plain instructions when undertaking a project. We feel more comfortable with less options to choose from, and preferably distinctly varied. As much as we treasure our freedom, we find it simpler to be told what to do and what not to do. A black-and-white life with the gray whisked away. But precious little in our tangled existence is ever like that. We grow up and grow old learning to navigate the gray. We creatures with feet of clay do well to dance even though steps are clear as mud.

We don’t ask for life’s difficulties that muddy the waters we’re swimming in. They just show up. There are times we may even feel stuck in the muck that piled up uninvited. Well-meaning family members or friends try to offer helpful advice as if they can plainly see a way forward for us that’s clear as mud to us. Maybe some suggestions do help. Maybe they add more muck to what’s already there. Oddly enough, doing things for other people can often work wonders not only for the recipients but also for the one doing them. Empathy trickles out in kindness and kindness unleashes compassionate action and compassionate action can transform a mud puddle into a river of life-renewing springs. We occasionally discover that the inertia in our feet contributed to much of the muck.

Frederick Buechner famously said, “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deepest need.” Purpose. Getting up and not giving up. A calling, a summons to be as we are created to be, clay feet and all. We all know what brings us joy. It’s the lightness we feel after we’ve volunteered in a soup kitchen or a food pantry or a warming shelter. It’s the sigh of satisfaction we release after we’ve spent time tutoring elementary school students or grocery shopping with an elderly neighbor or mowing grass for a friend who’s had surgery. It’s the “up” in our spirit and in our step because we’ve given ourselves away and been given a way through the gray which has become clear as day!