Everyday Life: When The Toilet Explodes & You Do Too

I rarely write about regular days. The mundane. The typical. The routine.

Usually it's about the biggies, the big topics like divorce, sociopaths, depression, loss and drunk driving, healing and faith… usually it's about something that involves secret pasts that we'd maybe rather forget like soul ties, abortions and running away from home at seventeen.

All that is well and good… very important and affirming to those who can relate and lived through similar life experiences. But what about the everyday? What about the person who is looking for affirmation and knowing they aren't alone in the daily grind of life? What about the mom who is maybe totally over her house that is never seems quite clean enough from crumbs and tiny sticky fingers and finds difficulty seeing the blessings in it? What about the young woman who is spent from working all day and groans at the idea of having to scrub the pots in the sink or wipe down the shower?

Sometimes I myself get so caught up in the big stories, that I forget there is much to share in the little as well… that what I view as little, the daily life that sweeps by moment to moment within the walls of home is actually big as well… because it's so relatable. It's what moms know, it's what all women intimately know and can nod silently to themselves, "Oh, yea, me too."

The other day I had a not so great day. And the reason I share this is because sometimes we look at other moms, other women when were out and about and make assumptions. We look at their carefully curled hair, their immaculate eyeliner, their well-behaved children and think to ourselves: "Wow, she has it together. She is. doing. better. than. me." Which is of course horse poo as we know… but there have been times we've all been susceptible to it, who have entertained and listened to the lies of the devil.

The other day I came home to find two water department trucks parked on my street. I saw the men in their bright neon garb milling around. I had an immediate sense of dread. This has happened before and let me tell you I knew right then it wasn't a good thing. Setting my purse down on the entry table and running in I hurried speedy quick to the bathroom. Once inside I saw what I feared would be there. Dirty toilet water despite the lid having been down had spewed like a fountain all over the bathroom. Dirty water speckled everywhere, my nice linens were wet, my white bath mat was wet, the seat was wet, the gray tiled floor was wet, the glass shower door was wet…  along with the most disgusting rank sewer fumes filling the room. Changing into old clothes and pinning my hair up I began the unwanted and gross job of hauling all the linens to the washing machine, grabbing some cleaner and scrubbing the entire bathroom down from top to bottom until it was shiny clean again. Running the water and flushing the toilet for what felt like an eternity eventually caused the fumes to dissipate. I grumbled, I griped and I curled my lip while I worked. "I come home to this"... "So irritating…" and "What the heck?!" it all traveled through my mind and soon was being uttered from my lips. I was not at my best in my work, in my thoughts nor my words. Who wants to come home after a long day to that?

Not one person. 

I had a little rant-a-thon during my cleaning 

It was later in the evening that I began reflecting. I need some perspective clearly. I was blessed. I had a warm and cozy home. I had a bathroom to clean. I had nice soft linens to wash. I had the things that make a comfortable life.


Like that bathroom sometimes I'm a mess. Sometimes I don't handle things right. Sometimes I gripe and grumble when maybe praise should be coming from my thoughts or lips instead. Sometimes I really miss the mark. Sometimes like that toilet I release things that are ugly or dirty that should stay down. Maybe you do the same thing.


I don't have it all together. I grumble and gripe about stuff that happens like toilets that spew, vehicles that need oil changes and fallen tree limbs that need to be hauled off. I mentally or verbally tsk tsk at stuff that I have no control over but then chastise myself later for the fact I do have control over how I react. This "react thing" gets me a lot and I need plenty of heaping help in it.


And yet in that… I think it's important for us all to realize that there will never be perfection. If that is what we are seeking, myself included there is going to be a whole lotta frustration and disappointment in ourselves and life in general. There is no perfection. The bathroom won't always behave, the toilet won't always keep a lid on it, and yep, every three months that car needs another oil change however irritating we may find that fact of life… we may miss the mark, we may grumble or gripe… but when we feel convicted we can turn to Him, we can admit we are indeed a mess, we can tell Him how much we truly are thankful for what we have and praise Him.


He knows we aren't perfect. He isn't looking for perfect. He's looking for someone who is willing to admit that they don't have it all together and write for others to see that, to write for others who are in a mess as well, who grumble and gripe at the misbehaving toilet but then at themselves for grumbling about said toilet. He's looking for someone who knows they need to share their daily battles in the mundane because somewhere in that mess they are also seeking to find the joys and blessings as well… even if it's long after the task of cleaning up said mess is done. He wants us to share our stories, our realness, our battles whether they are cleaning up dirty water or shedding the dirty sins in our life of yesterday.

Either way no matter how big or small the battle He can use our stories to help others not feel so alone.


© gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com ~ 2015 

To My Readers: 

Thank you for reading! 


Related Posts:


What Defines A Well Lived Life? 
http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-defines-well-lived-life.html

Intent: Living A Life Of Purpose
http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2014/02/intent-living-life-of-purpose.html


Drip Goes The Nag: How To Communicate
http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2013/12/drip-goes-nag-how-to-communicate.html

6 Tips To Happy

September  2014 

names have been omitted in this post 

********************

My daughter opened the door and clambered in, bright multi-colors on her backpack slung behind her like the shell on a turtle decked out for a festival. Her blonde ponytail bobbed behind her tied back with a hot pink hair elastic and she closed the car door.

"Hey!" I greeted her all happy to see her smiling face.

"Hey!" She smiled back and began getting settled in, yanking on her seat belt and once I heard it snap into place I slowly pulled away from the curb exiting the afternoon school car pool lane.

"I missed you today. Did you have a good day at school?" I asked her.

"Yeah…" she replied "but I don't know why my foot was itchy today…" She murmured with a frown on her face. "It bothered me all day." She added.

"Hmmm…" I said as I slowly approached the stop sign and stopped, letting several mothers and their children cross first. "That is odd…. maybe you're about to go on a trip." I told her teasingly.

"Well… I DID trip today." She admitted with a grin.

I burst out laughing at her words and smiled affectionately at her in the rear view mirror.

"Oh, my goodness… that is hilarious. Not you tripping, what you said." I giggled. She cracked me up.

She laughed too and started talking about some "meanie boy" who was bothering her in class that day.

I responded with "You know what we say to that!" I quipped in my southern drawl.

She broke out in a backseat dance and song…

"Can't touch this… oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh… Hammertime!" 


Life is like that on some days…. we feel the bite of the dog, the sting of the wasp, the hurt of a snap… maybe a boy is mean or we trip and scrape our knee… but there are things we can all do to up our "happy quotient" even on the worst or best of days. We undeniably all want to be happy… and yet so many of us search our whole lives for just what exactly makes us so. 

So what makes us happy? 

Here are a few ideas to consider… 

HUMOR: 
Humor makes us happy… when we can take a a bad day and inject humor into it… when we can see the funny side of things we will not allow something irritating or even downright maddening keep us down. We can do this by saying "Okay, that was wrong. I'm angry, disappointed, sad…" Whatever the emotion…  Acknowledge your feelings. Embrace them. Then choose to move on. Allow a certain amount of time to deal with it and then find something positive to focus on. Watch a comedy, call a friend, recall a funny moment in the past that had you in stitches with laughter. Humor really is the best medicine. 

We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. 

And the other nations said,

 ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them.'

Psalms 126:3 (NLT)

GRATITUDE:
Gratitude makes us happier. Studies show that people who keep a gratitude journal, that are cognizant of the little things… jotting down two or three things at the end of each day that they are thankful for… they tend to be happier than their peers. I've been doing this the past few years and it makes a huge difference. It might be something you can share with your spouse or do alone. If you have children teaching them a heart of gratitude is essential… in a world so focused on the materialism of cars, homes, money and status. Giving them their own gratitude journal may be the stepping stone for them to discover how much they truly have to be thankful for. 


CONNECTING: 
Connecting with family and friends… strong marriages and friendships correlate to a high happy factor.  Not spending time with those we love leads to one of the top regrets on a deathbed. Having a reliable network of loved ones that have your back and them knowing you have theirs… boosts us up and along with that connecting to a higher power. Seeking God and having a relationship with Christ… hope is especially crucial, as it means life has meaning. Simply telling ourselves to "get happy" generally doesn't work… we need to do something to get us there and in that it's about building a life that generates happiness. So often when were much younger we may believe that we need this and that… we need the fast car, we need the flashy condo, we need to go out every weekend and get plastered and have fun. But the truth is… happiness isn't loud, it isn't wrapped up in "things." It's actually correlated to having meaningful conversation with someone we care about, playing with our children, and sharing enjoyable experiences with those we love.


CONTENTMENT: 
Contentment is all about feeling safe and calm… even if a storm brews outside your window and the world is being not so nice. My daughter always says "Some people are meaner than a dog bite." She's never been bitten by a dog but she knows already at a young age how mean people can sometimes be. Even if you are in a storm… there are things that can be done to alleviate the rush of overwhelm and simply find your calm spot. Exercise, kick boxing and relaxation techniques, even yoga may not make the meanies go away but will certainly help in giving you the help you need to deflect any mounting stress from outside factors that perhaps you have no control over.


FEAR: 
Fear is something that has the ability to paralyze us and keep us behind… stagnant and not moving forward. We fear so many things… we fear the unknown, we fear whether or not we can succeed in our jobs, we fear if our relationships will last, we fear flying, swimming, you name it… we fear it. I nearly drowned when I was six years old… I still remember that day like it was yesterday. To this day I can't swim. I am determined to take lessons and learn. It's been on my to-do list and yet I've never gotten to it… it's easy when we are fearful of something to say "I will… but, um... later." Yikes, "later" just keeps coming and coming. We have to make that commitment and follow through because when we don't it undeniably holds us back. When we don't face whatever is on that list that we each have… it keeps us imprisoned.


ACCEPTANCE: 
Accepting our past and acknowledging the pain that has occurred is essential for moving on. When we admit those past disappointments without minimizing or denying what took place we open the door to freedom and close the one to "what should have been". Instead, we can smile and say "Things didn't go as I thought they would… but I know God will use it for good!" This is truth. When something withers something beautiful grows in it's place. Maybe someone needs to hear what you've been through… even if it's just one person you're sharing your story with it might just help more than you could ever imagine!


© gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com ~ 2014 

To My Readers: 

Thank you for reading, 

commenting and sharing! 

Related Posts: 

Where Does Your Self-Worth and Happiness Come From? 

http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2014/06/where-does-your-self-worth-happiness.html

Like Fireflies: Being A Light and Sharing Our Story 

http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2014/03/like-fireflies-being-light-sharing-our.html

Timing and Sacrifice: When God Uses Us To Help Others

http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2013/08/timing-sacrifice-when-god-uses-us-to.html

2013 ~ Merry Christmas

Christmas


What is Christmas to you and your family?



For mine…  it's about prayer, fewer gifts and more thankfulness… more quality time spent together…  it's photo books ordered from Snapfish to give to family to commemorate the past year of special moments… it's mugs of hot cocoa steeped with extra marshmallows after building a snowman…  it's cries of glee at Christmas lights lining rooftops…  it's about paper chains strung across the ceiling and hand cut snowflakes on windows… it's about the American Flyer train chugging around the base of the Christmas tree in the background as "Christ whose birth the angels sing…" plays from the stereo in the kitchen… it's about gingerbread houses decorated with small hands and laced with a whole tub of frosting and m&m's… it's about reading the bible together and my children singing "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"… 



Perhaps for your family it's those things too…. maybe it's a time of much loved family traditions passed down through the generations… maybe it's honey baked ham, potatoes and asparagus followed with great grandmother's homemade pecan pie… maybe it's charades, silly antics and a bottle of wine with plenty of laughs to go around… maybe it's a pancake breakfast, fleece pajamas, karaoke and silly Santa hats…  maybe it's about making new traditions as your life changes, as your family changes…



Perhaps it's a time of closeness, of slowing down a bit, wishing you could freeze time…. but instead taking the alternative… a mental snapshot of the sweet scenery around you… of your tiny nephew giggling with anticipation at his first bite of a Christmas sugar cookie, or your grandmother's quiet thankfulness that you thought of her as she sits in the passenger seat beside you and "Home for the holidays…" plays softly from the car radio while out enjoying Christmas lights… maybe it's the glow of the candle warming your daughter's pink hued cheeks as she sings "Hark the Herald Angel's Sing…" in church during the Christmas Eve service…



Or maybe it's about presents and making sure little Johnny has just the right gift under the tree after an endless string of stores, frustrations and navigating congested traffic… maybe it's about popping an Advil because your head is throbbing from too much noise, too much stimulation and one too many drinks just to get through the dreaded family dinner… maybe it's tears coming to your eyes that your loved one is not there to spend Christmas with who has passed on and leaning on God for comfort and strength… maybe it's thankfulness you have a job, thankfulness you just got promoted or just got an interview… maybe it's being grateful for having food on the table despite your circumstances… maybe it's being thankful for good health, beating cancer and good friends…maybe it's about difficulty and growth… maybe it's about change and resilience… maybe it's about cherishing these last few days of 2013 and pressing forward to the new year because yes, better things are ahead…



No matter what Christmas is to you and your family we know who this day is really about:


Jesus Christ


He wasn't born in a mansion, a palace, or a two story home laced in finery and crystal… he was born in humble surroundings… a manger…  a feeding trough was his bed… he was wrapped in worn cloth to keep warm…


He was sent forth by God…  His one and only Son.


Our gift?


It's not under our Christmas trees adorned in ornaments and lights…

It's not brought by Santa dressed in a red suit and pack thrown on his back…

It's not bought at a store filled to the brim with overrated frivolous merchandise…


It's the greatest gift of all…


It's the gift of eternal life. 


© gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com ~ 2013 

To my readers: 

I pray you and your family have
 a very Merry Christmas… 
one of special moments that bring you
 together in prayer and gratitude… 
in closeness and love… 
and that the upcoming year 2014 
brings abundant blessings to you and yours. 

Bless you! 

              To My Readers: 

               Thank you for reading, 

              commenting & sharing! 

Christmas: The Gift Of Giving

This time of year is a time of giving… 


Of gratitude. 

Of appreciation.

Of selflessness.

Of time. 

Of showing others how much they mean to us and our appreciation for them.


To share goodwill toward men, cheer and love.


Giving doesn't have to be toward someone that you know very well… it could even be a stranger.


Every Christmas season I choose someone I don't know very well or even a complete stranger to do good will toward. Last year I gave the sweet lady at the McDonald's I frequent for my sausage and egg McMuffin's a Christmas card with cash enclosed. One year it was mailing a Visa gift card to a man and his two sons in my community who had been affected by a drunk driver. His wife had been killed and having some idea of the loss he was enduring at the hands of someone who had chosen to drink and drive, I included a heartfelt note of encouragement and prayers. I believe it is incredibly important this time of year… naturally any time of year, but especially during the Christmas season to remember those who have lost loved ones. To remember those who maybe aren't feeling particularly joyous and excited about life because the one they love is not there to share in it. When we are followers of Christ we are on the road of progress, of being chiseled… yet still undeniably fail out of our fleshly tendencies to grumble, stumble and mumble the wrong thing even if well intentioned. Yet one thing we can excel at is giving… giving others the gift of the blessings we have whether it's form is monetary or time.

Gratitude Leads To Joy... 

We become joyful when we realize the value in what we already have, our blessings that are so often overlooked and taken for granted.... the "little" things that are actually the big things in life.... our health, our mobility, our independence, our bed, food, heat, transportation, our loved ones, our faith and God.


We all have choices… 

We can give the gift of time by visiting a senior care center, visiting a children's hospital, sharing goodness and a laugh or two. We can bake brownies for our post man or woman who endures weather in all extremes to get us our bills and Hickory Farm catalog on time. We can send a turkey dinner or black forest ham to our lawn service guy that has ensured our property was well cared for. We can check on our elderly neighbors who are home alone and lonely and spend some time visiting them, taking them something homemade to enjoy or invite them to join us for Christmas Eve dinner. We can donate food to a local food drive to ensure someone doesn't go hungry. We can donate money to a charity committed to helping others and raising awareness for a good cause. We can look the young woman in the eye behind the register when we check out and sincerely ask how she's doing… because we may be the only one all day who has actually asked her. We can let the mom with the crying or arguing children go ahead of us in the check out lane instead of giving her a withering glance. We can buy the man on the corner with a sign asking for help a hot meal because if we were in his position we'd be grateful for kindness extended. We all have choices. Let's all choose to make this Christmas season the best season yet… for someone else… to make someone's season shine a little brighter.


Because when we make someone else's world shine brighter it has a domino effect…


And consequently the whole world shines a little brighter too.


© gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com ~ 2013

John 3:17- Love of God

But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother
 in need and closes his heart against him, 
how does the love of God abide in him?

   To My Readers: 

      Thank you for reading, 

         commenting and sharing! 

Thankfulness: Reality Check On A Mattress

names have been omitted in this post 

1994 

***************

“Mattress” by John Kasawa via FreeDigitialPhotos.net 

A lone mattress covered in a haphazard pile of colorful blankets lay on a hardwood floor. It was all that the room held. We each took a turn using the tiny grimy bathroom connected to his room then collapsed on the mattress still dressed. Both of us were exhausted. He took one side. I took the other. It had been an incredibly long day for us both. As I laid there watching him close his eyes and drift off, I thought of my nice bed at home on a bed frame with a box springs, white eyelet bed skirt, fluffy mattress and carefully purchased matching Laura Ashley blue and white bedding. I had been blessed and never known it. I hadn’t realized everyone didn’t sleep in a regular bed. I fell asleep in my clothes thinking how I’d never gone to bed without brushing my teeth and wondering what tomorrow would bring....


That was me almost twenty years ago.  


DIRTY

TIRED

HUNGRY

....and not sure what the next minute, day, week or month would bring. 


It was a reality check.

It's something no one should go through. No one should worry where their next meal will come from. No one should worry where they will sleep. No one should worry about their safety. 


BUT IT HAPPENS


Everyday across America and the world. 


What can we do to help remind ourselves of the little things we have to be thankful for? One way is keeping a thankful journal. I've kept one this past year and each day or so I jot down a couple things I am thankful for that happened that day or recently and it's really helped to remind me that even on the not so great days there is always something to be thankful for. It's such a quick and cost free way to boost not only your mood if it needs boosting but your level of thankfulness. 

Often it's so easy to become focused on what we don't have....the latest gadget or movie. Maybe it's the blouse we spotted in a store window we are lusting after or a high end handbag. At the end of the day though if we are eating three meals a day, getting a hot shower, sleeping in a warm bed and not having to worry about adequate shelter we are further ahead than many people. 

Are we making more deposits than withdrawals? 

We can reflect on if we are showing God how grateful we are by looking at how often we are asking for something versus thanking him for what we already have...

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, 

for his steadfast love endures forever!

- Psalm 107:1

© gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com ~ 2012 

To My Readers: 

Thank you for reading, 

commenting and sharing! 

Related Posts: 

When All You Have Is A Prayer

http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/when-all-you-have-is-prayer.html

From Gangs To God: When Bad Company Corrupts Good Character

http://gps-gracepowerstrength.blogspot.com/2014/01/from-gangs-to-god-bad-company-corrupts.html