It's Like Eyebrows

Galatians 6:9  "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."  

This morning I went into the bathroom to take a shower.  It is a luxury for me, really.  No one bothers me in there;  it doesn't matter if the phone rings, since I can't hear it and the boys won't pick it up unless I tell them to.  ALL that hot water - sorry, I'm not interested in conserving water.  Until I was married, I lived with a cistern situation.  I ALWAYS had to hurry in the shower, often being timed.  Yes.  So, anyway, the shower is one of my luxuries. Yipee!  So now you can see how much I am looking forward to the shower??  How eager I am to get into the steam???      

The first thing my eyes landed on was the toilet - it's a small bathroom. Initially, because the lid and seat were both up.  This is not acceptable, and I've struggled with training the young men to be equitable - we ALL put the lids down around here.  hahaha  I mean, that's what I go around saying..."We ALL put the lids down!"... I say, marching about.  I tout other things, too, like, "We treat each other kindly!", and, "Do the right thing, even if no one else does!", and of course, "Hit the water!"  Another of my favorites is, "Clean up whatever mess you make!"  Yeah, remember that teacher, and the mom, too, on Charlie Brown?  "Waa waa-waa waa waa!"  

Now back to the toilet and  the scripture above, Gal. 6:9.  Isn't that shocking? But no, scripture is for the down and dirty parts of life, too.  You already knew that, I know.  I'm SICK of wiping up the toilet.  First of all, I DIDN'T MAKE THAT MESS! (Can you tell that I've yelled that from the bathroom many, many times??)  Usually I get someone with mess-making gear, bring them into the bathroom and ask them to wipe up the toilet.    But this time, I wiped it up myself.  I became weary in doing well.  Is there any possibility of reaping now if I mark this off my "Doing-Well" list?  I'm giving up on the toilet issue.  I think maybe it's like eyebrows.  If you're trying to keep relationship with a difficult person, do you point out their bushily atrocious eyebrows? Would you say, "Yes, I want to hear about your day, but first I must say, Please Pluck!"  No.  You just smile, nod and avoid studying the brows.  I'm dealing with difficult people here.  Teenagers, no matter how adorable when toddlers, can't help themselves - They Are Difficult.  At least some (most...all?) of the time.  

I'm going to stop mentioning eyebrows  and yellow splashes, and try to smile and nod more. Maybe the first ten years of touting will bear fruit on the other end of adolescence even if I give up some battles now, in order to keep relationship to win the bigger ones. 

Bread and fishes, Lord.  Please multiply these bread and fishes!