Some people LOVE doing laundry. I’m not one of them. It’s a task that must be done, but I find little joy in it.
Just this week though, my laundry taught me a lesson.
Most of the time doing laundry is pretty routine. Separate the lights from the darks. Separate the delicates from the not-delicates. Wash, dry, fold, put away.
Kind of like life, you know. Most of everyday life is pretty routine. We do our thing – work, school, kids, fix meals, do laundry….. many days are auto-pilot days. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
But then we get the curve balls. Sometimes these are obvious “MOM! I think I broke something!” moments. Other times we just get a vibe…. Something is off…. We sense it but we don’t explore it immediately. And when we DO explore it we find that something IS off – either a relationship, or a project, or a mishap, or a wrong committed.
I was reminded of this recently when I was doing laundry.
Upstairs, away from the laundry room I heard an odd noise coming from the dryer. I didn’t do anything about it. I just thought, “Hmmm, that’s not a normal noise coming from the dryer.” I dismissed it and went on with my tasks of daily living.
When I finally went down to get the load out of the dryer, I discovered why I was hearing a strange noise. My daughter’s sweatshirt was entwined with the string from my husband’s gym shorts, which were wrapped around a couple of pairs of my son’s socks and a t-shirt or two. What I pulled out of the dryer was a big old ball of twisted, knotted material – compliments of the hot, spinning, whirling motion of the dryer.
As I started to unravel the clothes I realized that this knotty, twisted mess was a great parable for Life. Sooooo many times we get twisted around people, objects, issues, ideas, gossip…..we intertwine our judgments and perceived realities with the actions of others. In the hot, spinning, whirling motion that is Daily Life – we get knotted up in anxiety, in anger, in DOING, in pleasing…. And we end up in a big ball of noise-making, clanging, confused mess.
To get out of the mess we have to be intentional. We have to pick ONE thing to unravel – and see how it twists and tangles around the thing it’s attached to. We have to be patient (with ourselves and others) and take the time to work through the knots and gnarls. If we don’t take care – and time- and patience to unwind the mess – or we’ll end up frustrated and throwing the whole thing in the garbage.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we took the same care with our relationships and work and self-view as we did with our laundry? If we sorted and cleaned and folded — and worked out the tangled messes – of our “Stuff” with the same patience that we use with our sweatshirts and gym shorts and underwear, wouldn’t we see transformation and healing in our lives?
“Wash with like colors. Gentle cycle. Handle with care.”