Thoughts from the Toilet Bowl

From Oct 2011

I get out of bed and trudge downstairs to the bathroom. As my hand comes down from the light-switch it hits my toothbrush which of course falls into the sink (that hasn’t been cleaned yet this week). I pick it up, rinse it off and try to set it back in its rightful spot and it plunges headlong to the floor. “S**t”, I say. Not a very Christian-like word, yet it is the first word of the day to exit my mouth.

I shuffle myself to the coffee pot, fix it up, turn it on and plop down on the couch with my bible. I’m reading Colossians every day for a month…well, at least trying for every day.

I encounter chapter 2, verse 20:

20 Therefore,[e] if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

I read on to chapter 3:

1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Hmmmm……I finish my coffee and reading and start to clean the house. As I’m leaning over the toilet bowl to clean the bottom of it, I have a thought. Life is full of “S**t” and I need to change my view on things. I want to place my thoughts less on the world and more on my Savior and…. See Him In This Now, bear with me. So much of life is affected by our skewed perception and lack of willingness to change even the things we know are wrong in our lives. How can I see Christ in this…..dropping of a toothbrush….tripping over a rug….argument with my husband…car breaking down…loss of a job? (the list could go on and on, huh?)

I can CHOOSE to fix my eyes on Him. I can’t control the little things that happen in my life, like falling toothbrushes, but I can choose where my focus is and what comes out of my mouth.

Lord, help me to focus more on seeing You in everything I say and do