LAUNDRY LESSONS

Laundry is something that most people generate. Most of us within the course of our days wear at least four to six articles of clothing.  Multiply that by a family our size adding in the towels, bed linens, and cloth diapers and that adds up to a lot of things needing to be washed on a daily basis.  Most of us are blessed with the ability to simply throw our clothes into a washing machine and walk away not giving them any further thought.  I am one of the ones that would throw things into the washer and not think anymore of the mounds of laundry; after all the washing machine would work its magic and all I needed to worry about was throwing the clothes into the dryer and finding the time to fold them when they were all dry.  Then Thursday six weeks ago happened and my thinking was forever changed.  What happened?  My washer died.

Well, my washer didn’t really die.  The washer simply decided that it wouldn’t spin anymore, it wouldn’t switch gears, and it wouldn’t move out of the spin cycle.  More than that, the silly washer would sound like two tom cats fighting, or as E-Man said two coons caught in a steel trap in the washer.  So, I did what any mom would do, I unplugged the machine, stared at mounds of laundry, and sat down wondering what on earth I was going to do.  Our machine was not even three years old, still young, but no longer under warranty.  Being the modern woman that I am, I Goggled how to fix washers and was astounded at the plethora of issues that the new HE washing machines can have.  I watched so many videos that I knew that there was no way I could fix the problem on my own.  Then we called the appliance repair shop, and was blown away at what the simple problem would cost us for repairs, I gasped and sat down in between the clothing piles, thinking it would be cheaper to buy a new washer.

I KNEW that we had to do something.  I knew that we couldn’t afford the repairs or a new machine since we just had to fix our truck. So there I was looking at the mounds of laundry wondering what I could do.  Then the idea hit me and I Goggled videos on how to hand wash clothes.  Little did I know that learning the hand washing art of laundry would be so beneficial or that I would be hand washing laundry for the next six weeks!

Learning how to hand wash taught us a lot.  We learned that we have the tendency to take modern appliances for granted.  We also learned a lot about the way laundry detergents work, how soaps can trap the dirt even before you begin to agitate the clothes, and that liquid detergent can work better when hand washing than powder.  We learned that when we are in a difficult situation and need to work together for the common good of our family, we can all step up to the plate and  do what it takes to make life livable.  More than that we learned what it takes to wait on God to open the windows of Heaven to receive His blessings.  You see we decided to NOT go into debt over a new washer.  We decided to pray and ask God to bless us in His time and in His way.  His way was more than we expected.

We have been gifted with a washing machine to use until further notice.  The new to us machine sings when the washing cycle is done, has a clear lid so we can continue to watch our clothes become clean, and more than anything arrived right on time for our family. More than that, it is the washing machine that I told Robert I would LOVE to have if we decided to buy one.  What is it?  It’s an LG top loader HE washer.  And in that lies the joy of this laundry lesson. More than teaching us about laundry, God was teaching us about Him.  The lessons that we have learned the past six weeks are some that we will all never forget.  I have been blessed because we decided to tackle to broken washing machine God’s way.  Who knew laundry could give such amazing lessons!   More than that, I am honestly surprised when I say that I can’t WAIT to do laundry!