Laundry Day

Are you like me, do you kind of like doing laundry? Let's be honest, it doesn't require a lot of our really being 100% invested to get the job done. And there are some pretty sweet rewards, right?

I know facing the hamper, overflowing with unpaired socks, grass stained jeans and pit-stained t-shirts leaves a lot to be desired, but think of the end game. The final outcome. OK, think of the outside smell by the dryer vent. I like to walk by it, because it smells so good when I'm doing laundry. The dryer sheets or clothes softener gives a smell to the air that is almost nostalgic some days.

Shanny loved fresh hung clothes. She had a clothes line in her yard at just about every place she lived. She really liked the way the fresh air left clothes, a little stiff, a little crisp, soft and smelling like the fresh Spring or Summer air. I have seen her bury her face in a pile of clothes fresh off the line for a whiff! 

She didn't mind lugging the wet clothes outside and one by one, pulling out the clothes pins and pinning them first to herself, and painstakingly, with the love of a real mom, hung those clothes, piece by piece, down the line. For many of you who didn't know my daughter, she was a little bit of 5'3 or 5'4 and all of a size 0..but the girl was full of love and energy, and the emotional and character strength of a giantess, (is that a word?)

Shanny made everything she did look almost easy. I think it was because she did it with love and passion. Passion for life, for her husband, her children, her family. So, watching her doing the simple act of hanging laundry in her yard, was almost sweet. I loved seeing her do things I never did. I wasn't Suzie homemaker, so most domestic stuff was a little foreign to me. Watching Shanny was a blessing. It was God's way of saying-she is good, in spite of your lack of teaching. I was humbled .

I have been humbled by my children many times over the years. But that's another story for another day.

We have all heard the phrase-don't air your dirty laundry in public? Well, this is just the opposite. I never understood that phrase. Who would hang out dirty laundry? Was it just to re freshen it? Because if that is the case, I understand the concept..anyway, back to this..

There is such a difference in sun-dried clothes and clothes spun in the drier. Sun dried clothes have a scent that can't be put there by anything but the sun. It is fresh and clean, and warm and evokes emotion. I don't know of any dryer that can do that for clothes.

That is how I feel when I take my worries to the Son. I feel all fresh and clean and warm. I am full of emotions I had been robbed of by my dirty laundry. Once I turn them over, I am like new! 

When I am deep in grief and I go to the Lord and ask for grace and acceptance of His will, if even for this day, He gives me so much more. He fills me with sweet smelling memories, and His warm touch of support and strength and peace. He knows my pain, He wants to wrap me in sun-dried sheets and give me comfort. I just have to trust and ask..He waits patiently for my laundry day..

And, I love to pray-because I know the power of prayer and faith as a mother grieves! Blessings!

Rose