That's not my mess!

For the summer I am keeping kids, four of them between the ages of six and nine. My house is suddenly in a state of perpetual messiness. And what is weird is that at the very same time for some reason spiders have infested my house...big brown ones...augh! Anyway, the point of this blog is the amazing wonder of how messes get messed all over my house all day long and somehow everytime I appoint a cleaner upper, it's not their mess. It's someone elses...I know it isn't mine because I don't play with train sets or puzzles or read elmo books or build lego towers(then topple them over) or spill koolaid (and not clean it up right away) or make tents out of quilts and try to play baseball inside of them or a lot of the activities that create the messes that I find in my very own room. (note of admittal: I do play these kinds of games at times but make a point to clean up after each episode) Just yesterday I walked into the play room and wondered if the carpet had been replaced by a collage of toys and pillows, when I turned to the children (who were IN the room) and asked them to please clean up they simultaniously pointed to each other and said, "he did it" and "she did it" also simultaniously. They both had to clean up and as usual when I went in the room later I finished cleaning up what was left out...funny thing about kids, the definition of 'cleaned up' for them is a little different than my definition of 'cleaned up'. So more often then not, they 'clean up' then I go in after them and finish up. Anyhow, upon walking away from this situation I started to think, "do I do that"? In my life, when I make a mess, do I clean it up or do I point to whoever is closest or easyest to blame and say "they did it"? When I have a day that isn't the best, do I turn it into my failure to examine my own self or do I blame the person who said one sly remark and 'ruined my day'? Then, even if I do make a mess and try to clean it up myself, do I really get it cleaned up? I know that I can't clean up my sinful mistakes, all I can do for those is admit to them and God does the forgiving (cleaning) part.
There are many people in my life, including myself that could look back on their past and become angry and bitter. Not at themselves necessarily but at the people that added to unfortunate events in their lives. Praise God that in most, I do not find this to be true. Sure we all have our days where we pout a little (or a lot) over our lot in life. For the most part though, by God's unfailing grace, we are able to wake up each day with a purpose and live beyond what our pasts drag into our daily lives. Just think about it, before you start pointing fingers, clean up what you got out and whatevers left...God will take care of it.