Lessons from the broom!

One of my very first lessons on adopting a spirit of excellence was taught me by my parents who ensured that we did the best we could no matter what it was we were doing.

I remember my first lessons in excellence on the job! My teacher was my dad. He had watched with dissatisfaction how my sister and I would sweep the sitting room and decided to show how it was to be done. For those of you who have never used an african broom, I'll try to describe how it is used. The broom is made up of the stems of the palm tree whose leaves have been stripped bare. Very many stems are tied together at the bigger end with raffia or some twine and the finer ends of the broom are used to sweep the room. The broom has a short handle that requires the user to bend his back almost in parallel to the floor.
Picture from travelblog.org

One of our first household chores was to sweep the sitting room and as any child can tell you, household chores are not exactly the most exciting duties to do. We would stand almost upright and use the tip of the broom to lightly dust around the pieces of furniture and hurriedly sweep the sitting room. Of course this method ensured that all the little bits and pieces of dirt found a home under the sofas, tables and stools. Anyone who removed their footwear and walked into the sitting room would surely step on sand on patches of the floor we had missed.

Anyway my dad decided to show us how it was done! Properly! He took the broom from us and bent down and swept the room clean. He moved the furniture and did not use the tip of the broom once! In a few minutes the room was clean, much cleaner than all the times we had attempted to sweep it. For the next few days (I'm sure it was months for old habits die hard) if he happened to pass by while we were sweeping we were constantly reminded to bend down and not to use the tip of the broom. He would often tell us that we should sweep the room cleaner than anyone else in the world could. My mum's lessons were that we should sweep the room without our shoes on so we could feel the tiny grains of sand we had left behind when we moved forward. She also made sure that we moved the furniture and not sweep around it as we were wont to!

I am sure my parents often wondered if the lessons stuck but till today, I cannot sweep a room without hearing their oft repeated admonitions and one bible verse my mum repeated- do everything to the glory of God. If I swept a room and did not sweep under the chairs along the wall, I would almost always go back to sweep under it:) And even in my daily work I find it difficult (unless I am totally clueless) to do a job without doing my very best! The lessons from using the broom to sweep a room clean have stuck with me and it is difficult for me to let go!