“Is there anything else, Mommy?”
Adding that 8th chore card was a rare stroke of genius.
Every morning these words are music to my ears. No matter how poorly I’ve slept or how cranky I feel or how unenthusiastically the kids have embraced their responsibilities, there is something so sweet and glorious about hearing a child ask this simple question.
(Lest you think they are angel-kids who automatically ask such things, genuinely eager to know if there are any more unnoticed or otherwise forgotten work items I have for them … no. They are normal kids who routinely rush through making their beds, thus leaving the sheet hanging out the side like a slack tongue, while the top blanket lies deceptively smooth over the disheveled mess underneath. No, I have more than once found barely-foamed toothpaste spit out in the sink: “There is no way you could have brushed your teeth well while leaving the glob of toothpaste still in tact!”)
*sigh*
But at the very end, the 8th chore on the little key-ring of cards, is this simple question:
Is there anything else, Mommy?
And the funny thing is, they automatically say it with a smile because I can’t help but smile when I hear those words. It means: a) they have finished their chores (!) and b) I have an opportunity to ask them to do ANYTHING ELSE I want!
Of course I’m smiling!
This image, of them asking me and me grinning, happy, came to my mind yesterday as I was reading Scripture. As I read God’s Words, His commands, His truth, it struck me that, when I finished reading and obeying (in that moment) what He’d put before me, I could also turned heavenward and ask, in childlike prayer:
“Is there anything else, Daddy?”
This is, in essence, the daily practice of confessing our sins.
Father, is there anything left undone, unnoticed, anything dirty or unpleasing in me that You’d like to call my attention to? Something you want me to deal with before I move on with my day?
Of course when my kids ask me this question, I answer mercifully. If I can think of something simple, or a specific correction, I say it. They then carry out the unfinished task or we together correct the attitude or address the specific incident. Or, often, I simply hug them and thank them for their good work, and tell them to enjoy the rest of their morning. Of course there’s more. I could easily tell each of my kids a couple dozen things they need to work on and just as many jobs I’d like done.
But I don’t fire-hose them with it all at once.
God doesn’t either.
When we confess our sins to God and ask, “Is there anything else, Daddy?” He doesn’t unload on us. If He did, revealing ALL our weaknesses, sins, shortcomings, failures, we’d be incinerated. Toast.
But He doesn’t. He’s patient, merciful, and gives us just what we can handle in that moment.
But how it must please the Father when we ask! Just as I can’t help but grin, ear to ear, when my littles ask me that question, how it must also please our Father, yes?
Sure, it isn’t always fun to find out there’s even more to deal with than we had thought! Another “chore” seems like … well, a chore. But how rewarding it is to know we are slowly learning to bless His heart, to please Him.
How rewarding it is to see the Father smile.
{Thanks for reading.}
“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
James 5:16