Summer is the time for vacations and kicking back, the time when people make time for each other. It’s a break from the usual routine and a chance to celebrate being together. And like it or not, concentrated togetherness always presents fresh opportunities to practice flexibility and tolerance. It’s also the perfect time to highlight creativity, even if it pops up in the most unusual of ways.

For example, when our cottage was packed with as many relatives as it could hold a week ago, finding bathroom privacy was difficult. One day in particular I kept my eye on the bathroom door, hoping to soon find it open. Each time I checked, though, it was closed.

When finally I got my chance, something interesting greeted me. The toilet water was a rich royal purple. How this happened I wasn’t sure, but I had to admit someone had been creative, elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary.

The week was full of things like that. There was a pile of votive candles with all the wicks carefully removed, and a skewed roll of re-wrapped toilet paper, twice. Crusty pans were left overnight in the most unusual

places, and Emerald’s first attempt at self-feeding left a mess that matched the crusty pans.

Living in crowded community offers all sorts of let-it-go moments. We can square off with these odd-ball situations by criticizing, confronting, or complimenting. It’s our choice. Responding with a calm determination to find something good about each circumstance encourages us to chalk up the messes to the diverse ages and stages of those living under one roof, and it frees us from stress.

Also, thinking from God’s point of view helps to put things in perspective. The Father, Son, and Spirit are all of one ilk, divinely superior to any other being (such as us). When we humans complicate things unnecessarily and make messes as a result, the Trinity has every right to demonstrate righteous anger, especially if we purposely violate a standard these three have set for us.

We’ve seen this righteous anger repeatedly in Scripture, each time the Israelites chose to rebel and then experienced God’s stiff discipline. More often than not, however, he also offered them an opportunity to try again. Love was his motivation, which is why he patiently forgave them and offered a clean slate. If we wonder what to do when our crowded homes become creatively disheveled, we should follow his example.

It isn’t always easy when we’re the ones on clean-up, but searching for something upbeat in even the most peculiar situation is the route to elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary.

As for the purple toilet water? I would never have guessed.

It was Nelson.

“God is not a God of disorder but of peace.”               (1 Corinthians 4:33)