A Jonah Day

Today was one of those days that I call "Jonah Days".  For those of you who have never heard that term before, a Jonah Day is a term for a day where everything seems to go wrong. Just like the one that poor Jonah from the Bible went through when he chose to get on a boat and run away instead of going to Ninevah. These are the days that it would be better, and safer, just to stay in bed.  Today was definitely one of those days.  It started off all right, but quickly went on a downward spiral.

  My sister and I own our own cleaning business.  We clean homes around our city.  When I got to my first cleaning appointment today, I realized that I was 30 minutes late.  Ok, not a good way to start the workday.  Then, I was rushing a little to make up a some time and forgot to put the lid on the toilet bowl cleaner after I finished using it.  The bottle fell out of my tote and to my horror  proceeded to gush blue cleaner all over the bedroom carpet of the home I was cleaning.  Not only did it get on the carpet, but it also sprayed all over two walls leaving permanent marks on the walls. Now, I realize that I wasn't being cast into the sea or swallowed by a big fish (actually, I might have preferred that), but I was extremely upset!

As my sister and I were cleaning up the mess, we realized that the toilet bowl cleaner had sprayed the wall behind my clients beautiful cherry wood dresser, but had somehow completely missed the dresser itself. ( I must have some one who loves me behind the veil who was looking out for me.)  Thank Heaven! I couldn't believe it.  What a blessing.  In the end, we were able to get some of it cleaned up, but I will have to hire someone to clean it professionally.  Not the end of the world I guess.

 More things continued to happen as the day went on, but I don't want to take up precious space writing about them as well.

The reason I am sharing this with all of you is because when all of these things were happening today, I decided that I had a choice.  I could choose to let them upset me and ruin my day,  maybe even my week, or I could choose to find the good in them. A little quote that my mother used to recite to me kept running through my head.  It goes like this:

Two men looked out from prison bars
One saw mud, the other stars.

 Now, I don't always see the stars. Lots of times I wallow in the mud, but today I decided to look for the good in each situation I was put in. I felt just like Pollyanna. It really helped me.  I realized that the toilet bowl cleaner incident could have been much worse.  It could have sprayed all over her beautiful dresser and Armiore.  It also could have sprayed on priceless pictures that she had on her dresser.  Another blessing was that my client was unbelievably wonderful about the whole situation, telling me that accidents happen.

  Looking for the good in these difficult circumstances really helped me pick myself up and keep going throughout the rest of the day.  It is my hope that next time you have a day where everything goes wrong, you will remember my Jonah day, with my toilet bowl cleaner disaster, and it will help you see the good in your own situation by helping you to look for the stars instead of wallowing in the mud.

~Elizabeth