bathing is not optional!

It would be a huge time saver if bathing weren't a necessity and merely an enjoyable relaxation tool. *laugh* But I am so very glad that it IS necessary!!! It means I do get to relax, even if it isn't daily....(sorry, y'all, if that's TMI - you can blog-hop elsewhere. *giggle*)
One of the things I am most thankful for beyond the usual things we all list, like family, and freedom of worship (I know those are not small things - I don't take them lightly - don't worry!*laugh*), is hot, running water from an overhead spigot!
Anyway - I guess my point is that I am looking at the small things today (that really don't seem so small when they aren't there) and remembering what a blessing they are as well. A good perspective to have when one has a million and one loads of laundry and dirty floors that need to be mopped - yet again. *laugh*
Ever so often I read this little story - it certainly helps my attitude -

Annah is from South Africa. She and her husband came to the United States from Soweto - the all black southwest township of Johannesburg- so that her husband could get his Ph.D. Her home had been two rooms without electricity or running water. She had never seen a vacuum cleaner or operated a dishwasher.
She and her daughters visited with us for two weeks one summer. Daily Annah rose and started to clean my house. When I urged her to be a guest instead, she shook her head. "Oh, you have such a lovely home. It is a joy to clean."
A joy to clean? For me, cleaning was something I did when company was coming, when I began to stick to the floor, or could not see out the window. Certainly something to do only if I couldn't think of anything better to do!
"I love to polish," Annah told me, making my sink gleam. "In Soweto, women polish their buckets until they shine. We are proud of what we have."
Seeing Annah's delight in cleaning- and feeling a little guilty that she was working so hard in my house- I began to work with her. I discovered how much joy there can be mopping a floor, polishing wood until it glows, lifting clean dishes from piles of suds, folding swee-smelling clothes.
I am grateful to Annah. She taught me to take joy in performing the tasks that bring light and sparkle to my home.

~from House Warmings: For those who make a house a home by Patricia Houck Sprinkle

Work without joy shall be as nothing.
Resolve to be happy, and your joy and you shall form
an invincible host against difficulties.
~Helen Keller

Establish the work of my hands! amen