Today I realized something. It is more important to instill principles in my girls in positive ways than try and expect perfection and then put off doing it myself.
As the sun was streaming through the window of our screened door on this beautiful spring day, I was able to see all the greasy fingerprints that the girls have left over the last several months. I made up my mind that I was going to get every last smudge off and have a beautiful door, at least for a little while. I got out my homemade window cleaner (ammonia, water, and lemon juice) and a coffee filter and set to work. As I scrubbed, instead of looking at the smudges, I looked beyond them to two curious faces smiling back on the other side of the door.
"Whatcha doin', Momma?" Sommer asked inquisitively.
"Cleaning the door. You've guys put lots and lots of fingerprints on the doors!"
Sommer squinted in anticipation as I sprayed the glass, then was surprised when the stream didn't hit her face. "Can I help you?" she asked.
I sighed. "Sure. That's fine. Just let Momma finish this side, okay?"
Sommer nodded and waited eagerly. As I finished up the inside, I could see streaks coming through, and tried to get them, but decided I would wait until I did the other side then go back over it one more time once I was done. I handed Sommer and Harmony both a paper towel and sprayed the windows. Sommer was fascinated by the spray bottle and quickly dropped her paper towel to grab it and spray it herself. Slowly, methodically, she sprayed the places that she deemed dirty. A single spot on the door. A bird dropping on the house. The wooden porch rungs.
Harmony, on the other hand, was getting into wiping the windows. Feverishly, she scrubbed the windows just like she had seen her Momma doing. To be honest, she was doing a pretty good job at cleaning the windows!
We moved on to the door itself, where there was evidence of a million times of going back and forth through the door with dirt filled hands. As Sommer sprayed, Harmony wiped, and the door actually came clean without much intervention from me. That's when I realized that it didn't matter what kind of agenda I had, what was more important was teaching the girls how to do this for themselves and enjoy doing it!
Isn't this how God sees us sometimes? Of course, being God, He could always just swoop in and do everything for us, but then He would not get the pleasure of seeing His children delight in the work of their hands.
In the end, there were definitely streaks all over the place, but the windows looked a million times better than they did and we were all able to reap a great reward from cleaning together!
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