"Just why?" That was my first thought when I walked in to brush my teeth and found a broken clip sitting on our bathroom counter. WHY doesn't Brad just throw things like this away? Why does he leave it sitting on the counter where I will inevitably be the one to deal with it….
I'm so glad I had to finish brushing my teeth before I reacted; my mouth occupied, so the first thought couldn't pop out. I felt my words shift:
I can just throw it away.
The clip is the leftover trash from a weekend project—a project my sweet man worked on alone while the rest of us had obligations. When our elderly cat began using our closet more than the litter box, I considered ripping the carpet out myself…Until I considered what a tremendous job that would be…
This weekend, Brad tackled it. He pulled up the carpet and laid a waterproof floor, apparently resigned to a future of cat cleanups. While he was at it, he replaced this broken clip on our organizer.
This morning, mouth full of mint, I realized I could have overlooked all that hard, thoughtful work by letting a spirit of offense shine brighter.
At that moment, I realized that my whole job in our closet upgrade was throwing away one broken clip.
How often do we miss beauty because we find a flaw? We will find what we are looking for. I want to shift my initial question back on myself. “Just why?” Why was it my impulse to be annoyed by the “heavy burden” (🙄) of throwing away one piece of leftover construction instead of feeling joy that I could help somehow?
There is always an opportunity to be aggravated or annoyed.
How can we take a tooth-brushing break and make sure we aren't spewing morning breath on a situation instead of waiting for our words to be minty fresh? My morning is sure happy I did.