This is what I found when I walked in to the kid's bedroom to see how much cleaning I would need to do last night before we tackled bedtime:
How did I get this blessed?
When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "Just sweeping up the room, Mom. I put away all the toys, and it's gonna be totally spotless by the the time I'm done in here." He didn't look for praise. He didn't ask for help, and he didn't wait to be asked to help, either. He just saw a job that needed doing and he did it. I was so amazingly proud, and I felt so amazingly small.
As a mom and a homemaker, I find that I don't always do things unprompted, and I don't always do them with no thought of praise, either. Sometimes, I let the dishes pile up in the sink for days because I just don't feel like dealing with them, especially when I know that no one will notice if I do them and will probably only notice if I don't. Sometimes, I forget to sweep ignore the Cheerios and crackers that are crunching under my feet in the kitchen. And sometimes, I scold my children for, let's face it, behaving the exact same way. So when I walk into a bedroom that I am fairly certain was practically trashed like a hotel room after a rock star convention and saw the above, pretty spotless room, I felt first, hugely proud of my little man and second, about three inches tall. I guess this means I should work harder at both fulfilling my own tasks with cheerfulness and without ulterior motives AND that I should be happy that, even if I don't feel as if I've had much to do with it, I have an amazing son, amazing children, and that I am truly blessed to share in their childhoods.
So now, I want to know, have your children ever surprised you by being the person you hope to be when you grow up?
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