Do Stuff to Make the Children Good

     “Please help every people to do stuff to the children to make them be good,” prayed Michael, our five-year-old nephew who had spent the night at our house and had led the breakfast prayer. Our eight-year-old daughter Lesley and I need a stabilizer some mornings after our frantic search for the right color socks or her half-finished arithmetic paper, and Michael serves as that stable base as he extends his prayer to beseech the Lord to help us get it all together.

     I was feeling particularly guilty this morning as I poured another cup of coffee before sitting down to ponder the events of the morning hassle. My guilt was over my excited anticipation of the arrival of the wonderful yellow school bus. The hassle concerned a misplaced purse which was missed just before the bus braked in front of our house. Before she could be stopped, Lesley raced upstairs to her room in search of her money bag. Michael grabbed her lunch and started for the bus, leaving me on the front porch to plead Lesley’s case with the bus driver. “Please don’t leave her,” I begged.

      Finishing my coffee, I wondered what could happen tomorrow morning and decided tomorrow would have to take care of itself. Today, I must clean a certain little somebody’s room and adjust the latest count of socks to an even number. It does take cleaning to keep up with socks in this house. They might be on the window ledges, in the toy box, or marking a page in a book. How many times have I mentioned this problem? We will just have to see about this!

     For more than an hour, I cleaned on that room, muttering promises to myself about how I would handle situations such as wasted school notebook paper, shoes scattered around the room while the shoe rack sits empty in the closet, paper trimmings and a damp towel thrown over a chair. Finally, the room was pretty, but the job wouldn’t be complete until I “laid down the law.”

     At 3:40, the school bus stopped out front. Then, there was the sound of footsteps up the stairway, past the freshly cleaned room, and into the sewing room. I was ready! She spoke first, “Oh, Mama, you made my room so pretty. It’s just how I wanted it!” I was speechless and humbled, remembering Michael’s prayer. Please Lord, help me to do the right stuff to make these wonderful children good.

Addenda:

(Revised from 2/23/78 Between Fact & Fancy) Truly, for me, a serendipitous moment when I discovered this aging clipping.

Here are some scriptures related to teaching and setting good examples before younger family members:  Proverb 22:6 and Titus 2:6-8