Dirty

Note: I wrote this last week, because we are travelling this week. I thought it would auto post but I guess it didn't so I must not have done that correctly!

This morning, while I was working out, my two preschool girls were sitting at the "playdoh" table next to my work out room.  They were (miraculously) playing happily.  I was pretty excited.  Around the mid point of my workout, I smelled something bad.

Someone had pooped.

I asked, like I always do, "Emmy, did you poop in your pants?"

"No," she said, eyes wide.  "I didn't."

"Tessa?  Did you?"

She shook her head really big.  "No."

I look back at Emmy.  "Was it you, Emmy?  Are you sure?"  (She had already pooped just a few minutes before so my money was on Tessa."

"No, mom.  It was Tessa."

Tessa started to run away then, so I figured it was her.

I grabbed wipes and a diaper and wrestled her to the ground.  I was surprised to find she actually hadn't pooped her pants.  Darn, I corralled the wrong kid.

It was Emmy all along, lying to me about being dirty.

While I washed my hands after dealing with the mess, I got to thinking.  Why do my kids always say they aren't poopy when they are?  Don't they want that sticky, stinky, nasty mess off their body and somewhere they don't have to smell it and deal with it?  They aren't even doing the cleaning up themselves.  I do it for them!! All they have to do is tell me they're dirty, lay down and let ME clean it up!

It makes no sense at all, right?

Except you and I do the same thing all the time.  I can't tell you how many times in my life I've thought, okay so that was a sin.  I should not have done that.  I know my Savior atoned for me, he did all the heavy lifting, and I don't even have to do anything hard.  All I have to do is confess my sins (either to God through prayer directly, or to the Bishop) and the Savior cleans it up for me.  I mean, it may not be a super pleasant experience, but at the end, you are clean, you are comfortable and you are all around happier.

I decided it's because we don't want to admit to ourselves or to others that we are dirty, as though we can just ignore it and it won't be true.  Except we can smell it.  We can feel it, and others sometimes can, too.  Whether we accept the existence of our sin, or try to deny it, it's there.

This is a short blog, and a short message.  Don't be like a toddler.  Admit when you're dirty and GET CLEAN.  You don't have to do the heavy lifting, that has already been done.  Just admit, accept and move ahead.  :-)  Your bum will thank you for it, and so will your mom.