War Of The Paints

Dedicated to my friend Kelly. Thank you for letting me help in the classroom. It fills my heart with blessings and brings me so much joy.

I was helping out at my daughter’s preschool and the teacher requested that I fill some of the smaller paint bottles with the large jugs. This is one of those tasks that no matter how hard I try, there always seems to be quite the chaotic mess.

First, I proceeded to fill up green. I looked at the large bottles’ pump and said,” I’m going to do this with no mess today!” With full concentration, I stared green pump down hard and put the small bottle in the perfect position so no paint would escape! Then I grabbed the pump and pushed down. As the pump reached the bottom of the larger bottle, paint splashed upward out of the smaller bottle. Green splattered on the sleeve of my shirt, cabinet doors, and sink counters! I barely started and I had already been hit!

Next, I went to the cupboard to find purple, but needed to pull out black first! As I grabbed the black paint, its pump fell out, landed on the floor, paint spilling all over, and splashed upwards attacking the bottom of my shirt! I had been hit again! Except the damage was worse as now a small lake of black mess needed to be cleaned up!

After cleaning up the paint lake that was created, I then stared at yellow with a wrinkled nose and frown. It had no pump and I figured easy peasy pour. Well it glugged out all over my hand and small bottle. At this point there was paint and water everywhere! I shrugged my shoulders, looked over at the white and purples’ pumps that needed cleaning and thought may as well! I pumped out old paint, using a cup of warm water and it sprayed everywhere nearly drenching me!

“Don’t let the war I have going on with the paints discourage you from sending me to fill them in the future!” I told my daughters teacher. After all, I felt like the challenge was on! I WILL do this task without making a mess. Feeling amused, I was also able to laugh at myself.

So what does this have to do with breaking generational cycles? Well, first I’m sure I could have prevented much of what happened. Second, at some point I gave up and gave into the mess. Also a bit of paper towels got wasted cleaning up the aftermath of my small war with the paint.

Has there ever been a time when parenting your children that you added to the mess? Or for that matter any relationship? When we stay in the chaos and add to the mess we are wasting valuable moments with loved ones. Sometimes when things get chaotic, it’s a good time to pause for a moment and ask yourself some questions. Am I making this situation worse? Am I adding to the mess? If the answer is yes, then take a deep breath, meditate, and ask God to guide you with wisdom and grace on how you proceed with handling the situation.

Sometimes cleaning up the mess means apologizing! Yes, even to our children. It is so important to set the example of remorse for our young ones. It is equally important to show them that we forgive ourselves, too!