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Loving Laundry
by Karen Leet

     There’s nothing like rolling out of bed on a chill winter morning and sliding
  inside clean, fresh clothes out of the dryer, still warm and toasty. There’s
  nothing as satisfying as pulling open a drawer to find it fully loaded with clean
  clothes.

     I love doing laundry. Really, it’s true. As an orderly person, I love the sorting
  of dirty clothes, pre- treating stains and turning pockets inside out (just to be
  sure). Basic laundry days—they lift my heart. Really.

     The job is more than satisfying to my sense of order. Doing laundry is full of
  potential joy. Yes, joy.

     I hold up garments and my mind is flooded with memories—memories of
  watching the wearer running, jumping and playing. Those dirty clothes remind
  me of the experiences we all share as a family, the fun times, the hard times and
  the special close times. And how the memories crowd in on me when I wash
  clothes that have been through two or three children! Hand-me-downs hold
  extra-rich hoards of memories.

     When I sort laundry, I think of what those clothes tell me. I see my children’s
  changing interests as I realize I’m sorting hockey jerseys instead of basketball
  shirts or khakis instead of torn jeans. I see my children growing and changing
  as their clothing changes—sizes, colors and styles. And even when they wear
  hand-me-downs, how each child reveals his or her differences through their
  clothes. A shirt that never had a single stain with one child might be happily
  smeared with jam by another. Laundry reflects who my family is, what they do
  and how they do it.

     Then there’s the sensory input. No scent in the world can compare to sweaty
  gym socks layered on well-worn hockey clothes. Take a deep sniff of that
  combination and doing laundry will take on a new urgency. There’s nothing
  better than turning smelly sports gear into sweet-smelling, wearable garments. I
  love that scent, holding its warmth between my hands, feeling the softness of
  newly washed laundry.

     This is a way to serve my Lord while serving my family; this is a way to pour
  out love for those people God has entrusted to my care. It’s a way to
  demonstrate deep caring on a basic level. It’s not just the actual task of doing
  laundry that demonstrates love; it’s also that I can pray and lift each person up
  before God, recalling their needs and desires, their hopes and dreams, their
  difficulties and struggles.

     I could get irritated as I scrub the same old stains from the same old shirts; I
  could let my heart resent the daily grind. Instead, I use this time and this chore
  to thank God for the family He’s given me. I praise Him for all that I have: that
  there are clothes to scrub and children to scrub them for. I worship God in
  those quiet moments when it’s just me and Him and stacks of dirty clothes.

     It’s a choice we can make: to use those daily chores as opportunities for joy
  or as sources for annoyance. I know which I choose. I love doing laundry...
  what a blessing!

  Karen Leet lives in Kentucky.

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