Our church does not employ a janitor. Well, okay, I’m sure there are janitors somewhere on the payroll of something or other owned by the Church. But for the individual meetinghouses, not so much. There are an awful lot of LDS meetinghouses in the world these days. Instead, the members get a chance to take stewardship of the building and give a little back. On Saturday it was our turn. The gentleman who coordinates this was enthusiastic about children coming along, which I think is great because A) I don’t want to pay someone to watch them for an hour and a half on a Saturday morning and B) I want them to understand that it’s important for us to take care of our church building. Hopefully the experience of cleaning it will encourage them to be aware of how their actions might affect the next person who cleans there.
We arrived promptly at 9:00 and Brother N. set us right to work, Chris cleaning windows and me vacuuming, and the girls helping wherever they could.
As I worked my way down the hall and through the classrooms, Vicki and Lexi moved chairs around and picked up the few pieces of garbage on the floor that were too big to vacuum. Ellie just sort of wandered between Chris and myself, thrilled that we were at the church, on a Saturday, with only a four other people.
We had talked with the girls beforehand about why the members clean the building, and how important it was for us to do a good job. And we’ve talked with them in the past about how the church building is Heavenly Father’s house, and how we therefore treat it with respect so that we can feel the Spirit while we’re there.
So I was vacuuming a classroom, and Ellie planted herself on a chair and announced, “Mommy, when Jesus gets home He will be so, so, sooooo surprised! And He will be happy with us for helping Him get His house clean. And then He will have a party, and we will get to come because we helped Him and He loves us!” She went on about this party for a while. It apparently will involve balloons.
Even though they do embellish a bit, it’s nice to know that at least some of what we tell them is getting through.
That will be some party.
Aw, that's so cute!
ReplyDeleteYou really appreciate taking care of the building more when you have the opportunity to clean it!
That is adorable....I know it probably makes it less good for you, but it makes me feel a little better to know that when we are the only members in the ward to help clean the church we aren't alone in the world!
ReplyDeleteThat was so cute. I love how she understood it. And that was her little way of saying she knew it was important.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I hope I'm invited!
ReplyDeleteZack and I think families with small children should come and clean the church at least once. Then they can clean all their smashed crackers, candy, cereal and fruit snacks off the benches and floors.