How's Your Laundry?

"Look after your laundry, and your soul will look after itself." W. Somerset Maugham

"Laundry - Sorting out life one load at a time." Unknown

On Sunday, May 6th, my family began the long drive from Alabama back to Texas.  Our college freshman was homeward-bound for the summer!  Her laundry was homeward-bound as well. Throughout the drive, I found myself reflecting on the big green laundry basket in the back seat.  My daughter told me the "overflowing" basket was full of clean/unfolded clothes she had simply "thrown in there."  I wondered, how can that be?  Didn't she see how I tended to laundry for the first 17 years of her life?  Wash, dry, fold, put away and repeat in less than 24 hours.  Isn't it bad luck or something for clean/unsorted clothes to just mound in a basket?  This became a particularly difficult challenge for me when we stopped for the night, half-way through the drive, in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  One could see me going through that laundry basket, in a hotel parking lot, searching for an outfit my princess could wear to dinner.  I apologize for the sight one may have seen in the Hampton Inn parking lot as certain garments tumbled out of the basket and landed on the pavement.  Remember, all of it was clean until that moment!!!  When we arrived home,  I made 3 laundry observations:

1. I believe I found almost every drier sheet, from every load of college laundry, in that green basket.
2. When asked if one cute shirt was a P.J. shirt or an actual shirt, my daughter replied, "Hmmmm….I really have no idea because that's not my shirt!"
3. Every sock in that basket had a match...every. single. one. 

These priceless laundry observations reminded me so much of my own "faith walk."  Sometimes, I've had to pause and glean the attributes of my day, abandoning mindless tasks that are not God-centered or purposeful for me.  Oh my, many drier sheets have been thrown away over time!  Our hearts celebrate when we can rid our lives of things we don't need.  Other times, I have examined my soul carefully, discerning my behavior in a specific situation.  What is my role in this problem?  Does this problem involve me?  How is my patience?  How is my kindness? Do I have an adequate amount of self-control?  It is so easy for us to say, "Yep...not my shirt...not my problem."  At the same time, our open hearts and minds are often part of the solution!  Joy abounds when we identify what is ours to own.  Finally, we all go through times in our lives when everything seems all "mixed up." Nothing seems to make any sense.  Nothing seems to match.  I believe those times are known as "parenting of teenagers and young adults"... just sayin'!  Then, suddenly, or sometimes gradually, we see glimpses of God's radiant light.  We see His will prevail.  Just like sorting through the socks in our basket/finding the pairs, everything begins to match or make sense.

My daughter's laundry basket does not look like mine.  I am learning that's ok!  Her faith walk does not look like mine.  As Psalm 32:8 promises, God instructs each of us individually, teaching us in the ways we should go.  Almighty Father, thank you for this beautiful reality.  How is your laundry?  Toss out the extra drier sheets.  You don't need them.  Identify what is yours to own.  Wait expectantly in His radiant light.  Celebrate the beautiful moments in life, the miraculous alignment of His will and your soul's peace. Amen.