Cleanliness And Godliness

It’s no secret that our kids are abnormal when it comes to bathtime. Most children love this part of the day, but it is an ongoing, daily struggle at our house – often accompanied by yelling and crying.

But enough about me.

Seriously, our oldest has apparently resigned herself to the fact that we’re not going to let this daily bath thing go, and she’s adapted reasonably well. Most days, she even initiates and takes her own bath without assistance.

But then there’s our youngest, who is holding out hope that this insistence on personal hygiene is just a passing phase. I’ve tried every trick in the book, and it just doesn’t seem to be alleviating the pain of bathtime.

So the other night, I drew her bath water and called for her to come get undressed. As she came down the hall to the bathroom, I could hear her having a conversation, and I assumed she was talking to her father. This is what I heard:

“But I don’t want to take a bath”…followed by a brief pause. “Well, I guess I could but I really don’t want to”…followed by another pause.

When she came in the bathroom, Daddy wasn’t with her, so I asked who she’d been speaking to, and this was the reply: God. She said she’d been talking to God about whether or not she needed a bath.

I braced myself against the vanity, sure that I’d lost this one. After all, what recourse would I have if God had told our little llama that she didn’t need to bathe? She had cut out the middle man and gone straight to the top, and there is no way I could have convinced her that God was wrong.

But to my amazement, when I asked our daughter what God had said, she calmly stated, “He said I should take a bath” and then proceeded to undress and get in the water. No whining, no tears, no resistance.

It was truly a Christmas miracle and additional proof that cleanliness IS next to godliness. Can I get an Amen?