Drip irritation system...

I took a bath on Saturday in my big, beautiful bathtub. Unfortunately, as I was thoroughly enjoying every second of the experience, the water was slowly, yet constantly, disappearing. Despite my multiple attempts to secure the plug and my constant re-adding of more water, it just kept going down the drain. Here I was, doing everything I could to hold on to something that was very obviously not meant to be. Not for that day anyway…

Interestingly, this morning as I took a shower, the plug nowhere near the drain, I found myself ankle deep in water (in my own filth is what Allison would call it.) The water was NOT going down the drain--at all! I washed my hair and shaved my legs, enjoying the experiences as always and hoping that it would just start draining...No such luck. Again, I tried to figure out what to do, what was wrong, what was blocking the natural flow?! As the water reached my shins, I once again surrendered. And finished my shower.

It’s amazing the amount of inspiration I have been able to feel from these two experiences. I thought about bathtub analogies all day!

These situations are so much like life. (Mine anyway) There are things I want to get rid of and things that I want to keep. There are things that fill me up and things that drain me. (Sometimes it’s the same thing.) What messes up my life? I have got to find a way to get it to go away. What fills up my life? I have got to figure out a way to keep it in!

Funny how a situations can be totally opposite, yet help me with the same lessons: What can I actually control? And what is it that I can’t? Can I force things one way or another? Why do I want what I can't have...and vice versa? Then here's the obvious thought that sometimes my life is going down the drain...

But honestly, most of the time, my life simply overflows with JOY. The real key for me, no matter what the situation, is enjoying the moment and, of course, accomplishing a goal, despite the setbacks.

Life is a series of clearing out the bad stuff and finding a way to keep in all the goodness.

Of course, then there’s an analogy with the tub itself. Just like my life, it looks so dang good…always clean, always organized, big, beautiful, and shiny.

But it’s obviously in need of repair…

Perhaps it's just time for a little Draino and a call to the maintenance crew at my complex.

I know I know.

My analogy doesn’t hold water.

But today, it’s keeping me afloat.