What Do Bathrooms Have to Do With Thanksgiving?

An American bathroom of a freshly renovated house, 2004 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have 2.5. Bathrooms that is. Pretty typical if not a bit on the modest side. How about you?  How many bathrooms do you have or how many total rooms, how many clothes in your closet, cars in your garage, flowers in your garden or social events on your calendar?

This week America will celebrate Thanksgiving. A holiday for us to come together and count our blessings. So what do our bathrooms, flowers or even ideas have to do with Thanksgiving?

We truly are very blessed even if we don't feel rich. When almost half the world lives on less than $2.50/daily, it's not hard to admit our wealth. And even though wealth can be justifiably earned through hard work and sacrifice, having more often just complicates things.

If you move to a home with a bigger yard you will most likely have more yardwork to do or pay someone to do for you. Yes, you will have more flowers, just like you will have much more space in a larger home but then you have more rooms to clean; more bathroom, well you get the idea.  A lot of our time, energy and money is spent on taking care of the "more" we have.

Sometimes we have little time to enjoy the things that are free: ideas, companionship, nature, silence, smiles, hugs, belly laughs, forgiveness, unexpected surprises, a good cry, acceptance, seasons changing, promises kept and countless other things we take for granted daily because we are too busy tending to our "more".

It's not really about the yard, the social commitments, the clothes or even the bathrooms. It's about the things we accumulate and add to our stash that often just end up taking up more commitment than we want them to because of course the more we have, the more we have to take care of.

I do it and maybe you do it too. I add to my "collection" of things only to discover there is now one more thing I need to give attention. More clothes=more laundry, more cars= more repairs and maintenance and yes, more bathrooms= more places to clean.

Thanksgiving Turkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bit by bit, I realize I need to begin to minimize things in order to have time and energy to do what really matters, whether in my family, my career or my personal life.

So, when I sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this year, there will be plenty of food and all of my closest family to enjoy but I will set aside the blogging, the writing, the speaking, the coaching, the marketing and even the cleanest of bathrooms to not miss a minute of time to make memories and be grateful for every blessing that ever came my way...many so undeserved.

Do you ever think your "stuff" takes up way more of your time than you want it to?

What's your holiday going to be like and by the way, I AM very grateful for my reader who bless me by giving me their time and thoughts.

Now...Go Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving and we'll talk about what to do with all that "stuff" we added to our lives next week.

Thankful For What I Don't Have

An "oldie" post that I always feel is timely, because it is so easy to think about what we have to be grateful for rather than what we escaped from or what never came to be that was actually a far better blessing.

Thanksgiving always brings thoughts of blessings too numerous to count. Easily, I can identify what I have been so graciously given often without truly deserving these blessings. But it is what I did not get or what did not happen that perhaps makes me even more grateful.

So this Thanksgiving, I want to remember to thank God for the times He has spared me what could have been tragic news; for the illnesses that I didn't have, the financial ruin that did not come my way, the losses I have not experienced. I am grateful I have not lost a loved one in combat or a child before they were born.Thank you for the times you allowed me to avoid the accidents that could have happened, the mistakes that could have cost me more than I realized, the train wrecks that might have been. I am blessed to have avoided many catastrophes by the protection of an Almighty God.

Thank you for redirecting me from dysfunctional people and/or circumstances that would have left my life far different from the one I know. Thank you for your mercy when my judgments were poor and for your grace allowing outcomes brighter than I might have expected.  Thank you for not allowing abuse, intolerance or disrespect into my relationship with my spouse or children. I am grateful to have never known abandonment.

I am so very thankful that I do not know hunger or homelessness. Things so easily had by many; unemployment, chronic illnesses, tragic events, separation from loved ones because of war or other circumstances; all of these I was spared. I am blessed that I do not have to wash in a public shelter, scavenge through garbage for my next meal or sleep under an overpass. You have kept famine, torture and violence from my daily routines. Yes, I am so grateful for the things that might have been; but for the grace of God.



How about you?  Can you offer a thanks for what you do not have to deal with or what you were spared? Can you discover your passion or your fire in what you were blessed not to have had to deal with?

It is not what you have that is always the blessing but perhaps what you have avoided.

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