Today, I am thankful that I need to do laundry. Yes, you read that correctly. While the idea of doing laundry is not particularly appealing to me (although it is not my most hated chore) the implications of it are profound. The need to do laundry means that my children have clothes – more than enough – to wear when many people do not. The exponential increase in the size of my laundry piles means that I have a big, healthy family and they are active enough to generate dirty laundry. The chocolate and ketchup and coffee stains mean that my family is well-fed with enough leftover to get creative using excess food as paint. I am grateful for the learning opportunity that this chore provides for my little ones. Often I must remind myself that, while it will take longer to complete the task, their eagerness to help is a blessing that will soon wane with age. I am thankful for the gentle reminder to pray for patience in the teachable moments.
I also appreciate my aging washing machine and dryer. Certainly, I would love a front loading pair (like the ones in the picture above) but my machines get the job done quite well. They hold pleasant memories for us, memories with which I am not quite ready to part. They are the last remnant of the first (and only) home we have owned; they came with it. They remind me of human kindness when I think of the generous repair man who came out on Good Friday to fix my washer at cost. He took one look at my tired, pregnant frame managing two little babies and wrote off his labor costs. Our washer and dryer remind me of the time that I pulled out the Bob Villa skills that I didn’t know were there and fixed the agitator myself (for less than $10)! They remind me of our precious friends, the ones who sold the washer and dryer to us along with their condo. They remind me that I don’t have to lug my kids and 10 loads of laundry a week to the Laundromat or down to the shores of some creek where I have to bang and scrub the clothes on a rock until my palms are raw just to make them presentable again.
A few years ago, a friend made a suggestion that really resonated with me. She said that, in an effort to remind herself of what a gift each person in her family is to her, as she folds each item of clothing she says a little prayer for the person who will be wearing it. When it comes to mind, I like to do this, as well. It gives the seemingly menial work of mommyhood some eternal perspective. Sometimes we need to be thankful for the little things in life because the underlying truth of their existence has greater significance than we realize.
This article first appeared on Fishbowl Living, November 2010.
Kim is a Worship Pastor’s wife and full-time mom to four crazy and beautiful kids. Toss in a part-time job, housework, a blog (www.fishbowlliving.com) and what passes for a social life these days and she’s still wondering how she fits 32 hours into a 24 hour day.
