Laundry

(That's not how I look carrying the laundry...this guy is way taller than I am)

I hate doing laundry! There’s just something about that wears me out. I don’t mind the beginning process, you know, the sorting, choosing which load to do first, then getting the soap (I really like Gain detergent with Febreze…I feel like I was magically whisked away to an island of freshness where waterfalls are flowing and birds are chirping and I am spinning in circles in slow motion for no apparent reason). Anyway, I digress, the beginning of the laundry process is easy, I start the washing machine, spray some of the clothes down with stain remover (if necessary), and throw them in the washer.  Sounds simple right?!

Then, after an hour or less of waiting I have to go back downstairs. This is the part I hate. I just got comfortable, why should I have to go back down and keep working? So, I walk back down, I have to hang some clothes up so they don’t shrink in the dryer, I then put the rest in the dryer. Now, I could sit in the basement for an hour and listen to the gentle hum of the dryer as it soothes me to sleep or I could go upstairs again…yep…I’m going upstairs.

Now, it’s time for me to go back down to fold up that laundry and bring it back up. I fold, I put the laundry in the basket to bring up, and I talk myself out of bringing the basket up because I reason with myself “You know, there is more laundry to do. I’ll wait until it is all done and bring it up.” Now, I am feeling like a super husband already because I am doing something great for my wife and saving her knees from injury going up and down the steps, but I just can’t finish the laundry job. Why? Because I either get lazy, too tired, comfortable, or I convince myself that there is much more to do and I can finish later.

Such is life, especially the Christian life. We have our stuff that needs to get cleaned up. We start the process, we begin praying, we start reading the Bible more, or we even start attending both services at church. Either way we know how to start. However, throughout our walk we begin to get comfortable with the basics. We don’t go further because, well, “there’s much more to do so I’ll take care of this other stuff later”. We miss the opportunities to finish what we start because we get distracted.

Then, because we failed to focus on the “stuff” that was almost done and move on to something else, the pile gets bigger. Which, like my laundry, this “stuff” becomes a heavy basket you have to carry upstairs to put away…three days later and wrinkled. You see, our “stuff” can be handled with prayer or the other things I mentioned, but we have to keep going to finish the job. Our laundry will not be done on its own. We have to work to clean it up. Keep growing and don’t get comfortable. Finish the job and do not allow your almost complete laundry to pile up and get heavy. Put that stuff away when it’s done so it isn’t wrinkled and you don’t almost fall down the steps because you can’t find your way up.