Monday, October 17, 2011

Piles and Piles

It's official.  Laundry has become my nemesis.  No matter how often I do it, there's always more to do.  I sort, I wash, I dry, I fold, and I put away.


I always start out with such great intentions on "laundry day".  But sometimes, when I'm trying to get multiple loads done in one day, I forget that there are clothes in the dryer, or worse, the washer.  I get busy with the other parts of my day, or distracted by the children and their needs, or the icon on my phone letting me know I have a new email.  So I waste time and energy re-starting the dryer or rewashing the clothes in the washer.  


It's much more productive when I take it one load at a time and make sure I finish the process in one try.  I feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm able to do that instead of the frustration of remembering that I still have to deal with that load of whites that's been sitting in the washer or dryer for 2 days.


How I deal with my laundry is often how we deal with the sin and struggles in our lives.  We see it piling up around us, and we realize that once we get through one issue, there's always more to deal with.  So we think that we'll have a "laundry day" when it comes to dealing with our sin patterns or attitudes.


And we have such great intention about that don't we?  We're going to sort through all of those things in our lives and we're going to deal with them all at once so we can be done with them and moving on to bigger, better, and sinless things.  So we pray, and let God know about the plan, and we get to work.


But we take on too much when we try to deal with everything all at once.  Sure, we may be able to focus and quickly get through one or two areas, and we feel great about what we've accomplished.  But then the busy-ness of life begins to creep in.   


You get an email from a coworker that makes you feel under-appreciated.  Your children decide that listening to you is the last thing they need to do, and you feel yourself getting frustrated at their willful behavior.  Your husband forgets to tell you about that business meeting or appointment that means that you have to reschedule your day.


You forget what it was that you were working on, and those old patterns, etc make their way back into your life because you've tried to move through them too quickly.  And you've tried to do it all on your own.  Sure you let God know about your plans, but did you really ask for His help in dealing with them?  And now you've got that sin that's been left sitting in the washer, in mid-process.  What started out as beginning to be cleaned and renewed is now a wet, smelly, crumpled mess that you have to put through the washer all over again.


It's better, then, to sort through those things in your life that you need to work on, and then ask God to help you take them one at a time.  Focus on that one area, attitude, behavior, etc., and don't stop working on it until you're heart has been washed clean of it and it has been put away out of your heart.  Then praise God for the victory He's given you, and start on the next load.

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