Lessons Learned

I've made some interesting observations this week regarding the minds of children versus the minds of adults, or basically anybody over the age of 10. First Story: I was pulling out my apron and rubber gloves, preparing to bleach the girls' bathroom when Autumn and Cayla walked into the room. The expression on their faces was priceless. They were literally gleeful that their bathroom was getting cleaned and they instantly began calling dibs on the chores. There was a slight argument over who would GET TO swish the toilet brush, but it was quickly abated with the allure of emptying the trash can and fetching a new can liner. First let me make a disclaimer here. I clean the girls' bathroom regularly.....as in weekly. Don't let their excitement fool you into thinking it's a once a year occurrence. They just love to be where I am, participating in whatever I'm doing and if that happens to be mopping floors or scrubbing toilets, they're there! I love this about their ages. While monetary incentive will generally entice them into less favorable chores like emptying the dishwasher or transferring clothes to the dryer, some chores still hold pure joy and clearly cleaning the bathroom is one of those. Second Story: Thanks to my adorable sister, the girls received darling Vera Bradley purses and wallets for Christmas. If you don't know how I feel about Vera Bradley, click here for a quick reminder. So the girls have really enjoyed carrying their purses to church and recently several people have given them money for their wallets because what fun is a wallet with no money in it?! I always remind them to put some of their money in the missions offering in Sunday school and then put some into the offering during worship service. Autumn hasn't quite figured out the 'some' part because she thinks it's wonderful to take all of the money in her wallet and place it in the offering plate. I know she's not doing it for how it looks because she would still put it all in even if no one were in the sanctuary at all. And I find this priceless. Both of the girls know all about 'things'. They want 'things' everytime we go shopping, and they're fully aware that things cost money. So it warms my motherly heart when I watch them drop all of their money into the offering plate. It reminds me of the widows' mite (Mark 12: 41-44). Both of these stories heighten my awareness that children definitely operate on a different plane than adults. I think laziness (as in chores) and greed (as in not giving a tithe) are learned traits and that as adults we need to take a few lessons from our children. I should be so excited to clean my bathrooms because it means I have them to clean. And as far as tithe goes, if you've heard my testimony, it is something I had to learn to do as an adult because somewhere during late childhood that concept got lost to greed. I hope my children never become lazy or greedy or at least if they do, I pray that God will set them straight before they have to learn the hard way.