This weekend we gave my sister and her husband a break and had three of their four kids (we shy away from infants) stay overnight: Ethan (10), Mackenzie (8), Conner (4).
Much too early on a Saturday morning, Conner, after spending a few minutes behind the closed bathroom door, announced: “I need help!”
I happened to be walking by, so I amateurishly asked: “What kind of help?”
Conner: “I need someone to wipe my bum.”
Sorry, kid. That’s not in our contract.
I asked the two older siblings: “Who usually gets assigned to bum wiping duty?”
Both (in unison): “Mom.”
D-uh…
Me: “Okay… when mom’s not around…?”
Ethan: “Mackenzie!”
Mackenzie: “It’s your turn!”
Ethan: “I don’t know how!”
Me: “I think it’s time to learn.”
Further arguments ensued. But then my level-headed practical wife stepped into the scene: “Just call their parents and ask them whose job it is.”
Mackenzie: “I’ll do it…”
What a great kid.
I say ‘great’ because, only after shutting the bathroom door behind her did she discover the magnitude of the situation.
Mackenzie: “Ohhhh! He had diarrhea!”
DEFINITELY not in the contract. (Yeah, I know… I will change my tune when it comes to having my own kids. But I’ll cross that bridge only when I absolutely have to, and today I didn’t have to — thanks to the world’s greatest niece.)
A couple other unpleasant tasks — albeit nowhere near that unpleasant — arose later that day, and each time we had to decide who got the job. And each time, Uncle Scott would chime in with, “Ethan, it’s your turn, because Mackenzie had to take care of the poo.” (I told Mackenzie, and later, her mother, “You can get a lot of mileage out of that one.”)
Romans 12:11 says, “Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all your heart.” (New Century Version)
There are some duties I must perform that I don’t enjoy doing at all. But I have the best job I’ve ever had in my working life, and sometimes… I just have to do those dirty jobs too.
I also need to keep my eyes open in everyday life, for some of those other dirty jobs that nobody else wants to tackle, and to see them as opportunities to be more of a Christ-follower than a whiny Christian.
Thanks, Mackenzie.