A Little Visual Reminder of a Spiritual Truth

Around here, Mondays and Thursdays are laundry days. I've said before on this blog that in any given week, I do 20 loads of laundry. That's not including sheets. Clearly, laundry could monopolize my whole life. In order to avoid that, I do laundry 2 days a week so that the other 5 I can think about anything else. It should also be said that I don't actually dislike doing laundry. The machines do most of the work, and my kids do the rest once I have their clothes sorted into piles. I don't typically even fold the older kids' clothes anymore as they can hang, fold, and otherwise manage their belongings on their own. Really, not a bad deal all around.

However, 2 weeks ago, life was different. Monday, the laundry happened as planned. Everything washed and put away. Lovely. But then Thursday, somehow, the schedule got jammed and no laundry was done at all. Neither on Friday. Nor Saturday. Clearly not Sunday....and so came Monday again. And *this* is what I faced. And conquered.







Yes, that is a full sectional covered with piles of washed, dried, sorted, folded, and alphabetized laundry. (well, not really alphabetized. I'm not *that* neurotic). That was some mountain, let me tell you! It is amazing none of us were wandering around in our birthday suits on Monday morning waiting for the first load to come through the system! Yowza. The morning was consumed with the running up and downstairs to exchange the washed and dried items from their respective places, and the afternoon was consumed with the sorting, piling and folding (which I only did for the sake of the photo, if I'm being honest.) And I took the photos to remind myself to not let that happen again. Having a couple of days off in the laundry department seemed like an okay compromise in a busy week until Monday arrived like a hurricane.

Ever feel like that in any area of your life? Just let it slide a little here or there to make the day easier, or to avoid conflict, or to avoid admitting you were wrong, and next thing you know you are facing a mountain of a problem that could have been quickly, and easily usually, solved had you tackled it when it was tiny, or at least new! A friend told me once that the hardest part of a 5 kilometer run would be the first 10 steps. It is true!

What is there in your life today that if you just started it, would be easily accomplished? What chore could you scratch off your to-do list? What relationship could you mend? What sin could you irradicate from your life once and for all?


Lord help me to be diligent in every task at hand, no matter how menial or trivial it seems. Help me to not be a procrastinator. And most of all, help this physical reminder of too much laundry remind me to keep my heart in check, to keep short accounts in my relationships, to deal with secret (or not so secret) sin quickly.