Oh No!!

Yesterday I wrote to you all about Gifts.  Well, let me share my "gift" for today with you.  I got up, as usual, with my list of chores for the day.  It looked like a pretty full day:  some errands to run, stop by the library, pay some bills.  Nothing spectacular, just a regular day but pretty full for this "non-working" gal.  That list did NOT include a backed up toilet!  Now, I'm pretty good with a plunger so, being me, I thought, "No problem!  I've got this!"  Ten minutes of plunging and no progress made, it was time to call the landlord.  (Thank goodness for the landlord!)

Now I try always to find the life lesson in times like this.  My plan was all set.  I knew exactly what I was going to do and my day was pretty full. Once again, I think God was saying to me, "You're so funny!  You keep laying out your plans and I keep changing them.  Big plans, little plans, it really doesn't matter!  Remember, I'm in control of everything; even the little things, even the toilets.  You're just so funny!"

So here I sit at my computer, waiting.  Don't you love those days when you sit and wait for things to happen?  You're afraid to really start anything because you know the interruption is coming.  So you sit and try to do a little something, but you can't really concentrate on it.  And just as you decide to go ahead and do something, you're interrupted.  Now this interruption is necessary, not urgent--yet, but definitely necessary.  The landlord shows up really very quickly, takes a look, tries the plunger again and says, "Well, it's just like you said."  Then he leaves.  And so I sit and wait.  Hmmm....seems like I've been doing a lot of that lately.  Life lesson?  I'm sure there's one in here somewhere.

One thing I have learned... Dr. Richard Carlson said, "Don't sweat the small stuff," and this truly is small stuff.  It's an irritant, it's a bother, but it really is small stuff.  I think I have that lesson pretty well, but maybe not?  I guess we'll see.

On the bright side (the gift side), it's the coldest morning of the winter here-sub-zero weather.  I had intended to be running errands but with this "gift" I've been allowed to stay at home where it's nice and warm.  I've had a nice visit with my new friend and landlord while the plumber did his thing.  He's a very nice man with a very nice family and I'm grateful that they have "taken me under their wing" here in this new community of mine. 

So, I guess, all-in-all my backed up toilet really has been a gift this morning.  All those other things will get done AND I got to visit with a friend!

Thanks, God!  Message received!