Spiritual lessons from a soap dish

I never dreamed my soap dish shopping excursion would inspire a more spiritual view of my home and myself.

I would often browse in the local home furnishing store and buy some little gadget when I felt upset, confused or overwhelmed. Harmless, I thought, since I was rarely spending more than ten dollars at a time. Besides, being in an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere at home made me feel good. I loved watching the decorating shows on TV, and I thought the people on those programs used creativity to their advantage. Expressing creativity and beauty were my motives too, I reasoned.

This time I was more aware of the impulse behind my shopping habit—a tendency to shop when things got mentally tough. This habit was cutting into my budget and, more importantly, it seemed to be cutting into my spiritual growth as well, something that meant a lot to me. It was a time-consuming habit—time that could be devoted to prayer that would help me solve the problems I was facing.

I wandered from aisle to aisle on my soap dish hunt. Polka dots, stripes, melon and lime-colored—the bathroom accessories aisle had over 30 different kinds of soap dishes lining the shelves. Normally, I would have been thrilled with the wide variety of choices, but this time I just felt frivolous. I quickly chose one and bought it.

On the way out of the store I felt discouraged. But my impulse this time was to pray. And prayer is a choice that has never left me empty-handed or discouraged. Maybe it was time to stop “filling my basket” with small purchases, and instead fill my heart and mind with God’s goodness and inspiration.

On the drive back to my apartment it occurred to me that being a recreational consumer could be a response to feeling chaos of some kind both in my own life and in the world. I thought that by focusing on the presence of peace and order within my home, instead of simply shopping, I would begin to feel the peace I sought.

So I thought about how my home includes the qualities of grace, love, abundance and order. I felt assured that these qualities could never be bought or sold and they couldn’t disappear, since I included them in my thoughts and chose to express them in my daily life. To me, that illustrated the spiritual—the unchanging, divine and good—essence of home.

I thought about how my home’s atmosphere is really dependent on the spiritual qualities within it, rather than the objects it contains. I’m still working at it, but I think the desire to know our Creator better is giving me more freedom of thought and helping me make more balanced decisions when I do need to purchase something.

Recently, this newfound spiritual growth was put to the test when I passed a huge “SALE” sign in a home accessories store. I was going grocery shopping with my boyfriend and he could see me turning my attention toward the display in the windows. So we went in.

As I looked around, I gently reminded myself of the lessons I had learned earlier. That home consisted of spiritual qualities, and spending the afternoon in good company was far better than shopping. After about three minutes I headed for the door. He said, “Wait a minute, I thought you wanted to take a spin around the store.” I found myself replying, “No. I’m satisfied.”

I even took an all-day shopping trip with friends who needed to buy some new clothes, without buying a thing for myself. I had so much fun laughing with them, sharing lunch and helping them with their purchases that I didn’t feel I lacked anything. I was nurtured and satisfied without having to reach for my wallet.

Now I no longer shop to fill a void or soothe my spirits when I’m upset. I’m so thankful for my soap dish lesson.

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