A Tale of Two Girls

The three girls, Anna, Elizabeth, and Sarah Grace, all share a room together. It has a bit of a dormitory appearance due to the three twin beds lining the wall. The fact is though, they generally do really well. They really enjoy sharing the space and having one another there to play with. I pray they always do well.

However.

One of our girls is a bit of a Neat Nik whilst another one tends towards a Messy Mae. Neat gets up every morning and makes her bed up pristine and precise. Messy would just as soon leave all her stuff piled up where ever it lands when she throws back the covers and crawls out of bed.

Neat ensures that her dirty laundry is dealt with properly. Messy has a tendency to leave it laying around until I tell her to pick it up and deal with it.

Neat has a very organized night stand drawer. Messy has problems opening hers from time to time due to it being jammed full of stuff.

Neat is meticulous about her books and her toys, carefully stowing them when she is ready to move on. Messy plays until she is done and walks away.

When the girls are sent to clean their room, Neat starts by cleaning out from under the beds and moving everything to one pile. Messy looks helpless and overwhelmed, frustrated by the very thought of organizing.

Neat rarely gets upset with Messy. They have a system worked out between the two of them. Messy honestly does much less work, because she can't comprehend where to begin. Neat assigns her one little task at a time and patiently goes about doing more than her share while diligently delegating to Messy.

It's not always an easy chore for them because sometimes Neat gets exasperated like anyone else. Frequently, Neat looks at Messy and tells her to go on so that Neat can just move about and quickly finish the job. Messy occasionally gets sassy and stubborn with Neat because she doesn't want to be bossed. It's a delicate balance, but one they handle exceedingly well, given they are 6 and 4 years old.

I've no doubt that it will become harder for them in years to come, but I appreciate so much the hearts they have and the way I see God moving in their lives daily. Neat would like to have her own space so that she didn't have to contend with the haphazard messes of her sisters, but she recognizes what she would be giving up. Messy makes more and more of an effort as time goes by to keep up her end of things.

I just hope that our Anna will integrate into the understanding her sisters share!