ok, friends. let me tell you a story. this is, in fact, a true story that happened to yours truly tonight. it goes like this.
and it came to pass that i was taking a shower. (i know you're probably all sick of these shower parables because they're just so popular, but bear with me. or bare with me?)
....
(see what i did there? nah? ok, moving on.)
ANYWAYS
i was taking a shower, listening to music, lathering my shampoo, basically having a wonderful shower.
and then i did something really dumb.
i plugged my ears. why? idk why. i just did. do you wanna know what i heard?
THE MOST ANNOYING SOUND IN THE WORLD.
all of a sudden all i could hear is the pounding of water against my skull. it was seriously the worst. (superlatives are my bff.)
then i did the logical thing to do. i removed my fingers from my ears. (i'm no dummy)
the beautiful sound of music drifted back to my eardrums and suddenly my heart was happy.
almost.
if only that dumb water hadn't still been going. after having it roaring in my eardrums, the sound of the water was all i could think of.
so yeah...
finished lathering, rinsed, repeated.
conditioned.
got dressed.
had epiphany.
(this is where we get to the part about the parable. i'm about to get so cliche right now.)
life is like my shower.
no really, it is.
sometimes we have moments when all we can hear is the water. why? because we haven't let the spirit into our lives. we are focusing so much on the negative aspects of life. all we can see is our trials, struggles, and the things we lack.
inviting the spirit into our lives (removing our hands from our ears) allows us to see the beautiful parts of life. (the music i was listening to from my phone.) the negative is definitely still there (it always will be) but we now have the opportunity to choose what we focus on.
how many times do we choose to focus on the negative instead of the positive?
i'm a huge believer in the idea that we choose happiness. i know that no matter what we are going through or dealing with, happiness can be just a choice away. there is always something to be happy about, no matter how small or cliche it may be. initially, a choice to be happy may seem hard but it is the best thing we can do for ourselves.
a loving heavenly father didn't put us on the earth to focus on the water coming out of the shower head. he put us here to enjoy the music.
in this christmas season, it should be easy to look around and see the beauty around us. the snow covered mountains, the brightly lit trees and houses, and the light that radiates from the people around us as we sacrifice for the benefit of others. i know that the holidays can often be hard for people because of old memories and past experiences, but there is beauty everywhere, waiting to be appreciated.
and that my friends, is the parable of the shower.
