I asked Kaden (my 7 year old son) to clean up a mess the other day.  He normally is really good about picking up when asked to.  He has given me a little more attitude about it as he gets older, but in general he is good with it.  So when I asked him the other night and he was pouting about it as he was cleaning, I thought something is off.  I asked him why he was upset.  He said “This stuff I am picking up is not mine.  Kaiya (his sister) got it out.  Why is she not putting it away?”  I explained to him that I did not realize Kaiya had gotten everything out.  But then I told him, sometimes we have to help other people with their messes.  There are times where we make someone else’s problems are own because we care about them.  As I was saying these sentences, it hit me about what an important principle this is.  When we love people, we dive into helping them with their messes.  Sure they may have screwed up.  They missed the deadline.  They made need to feel some consequences.  They were or are wrong.  They cheated.  They failed.  But even when it is their mess, when we care about them, we want to help.