Going on a laundry strike!

Another blast from the past... Still working on this concept!

Quite trying to finish the laundry
originally published November 17, 2006

I read a book a while back by Emily Watts called Take Two Chocolates and Call Me in the Morning. One of the chapters in the book is called "Quit trying to finish the laundry". In it she talks about how there are tasks such as laundry and house cleaning and meal preparation that we simply must do everyday or at least several times a week. There is no way we will ever "finish" the laundry. There will always be clothes to wash. Our kids are never going to say 'stop making me dinner so I don't have to eat ever again'. The house is always going to get dusty and dirty no matter how often we clean. Her point was that if we change our outlook, if we change the way we view those seemingly mundane and arduous tasks we can begin to see what a blessing it is in our lives as women and mothers to be able to do those things every-single-day. She says, "Cooking and cleaning and laundry are simply the foundation stones that support the enormous pile of blessings that my family enjoys".

I'd like to take her thoughts one step further. What if we viewed our life, our progression, our growth in this same manner? What if we changed the way we viewed those things? I often times beat myself up over making the same mistakes or doing the same wrong thing over and over despite my best efforts and desires not to. Why? Why do we keep having to work at it? Why can't we just become able to do everything we want to do in the manner that we want to do it? For one, that is not our purpose here. We are here to learn and grow from those mistakes that we make. For another, we are not perfect. In a sense our spiritual laundry is never done. As soon as we overcome one weakness or challenge in our life another one will surface. As soon as we get rid of one bad habit another will rear its ugly head. As soon as we improve in one area, we will soon be made aware of another area that desperately needs our attention. Rather then expecting to perfect ourselves all in one big step and be done with it, we must take several little steps to get us to that point.

Perhaps this is all old information or something that you all get already, but this is something that I have to constantly remind myself of. I have to stop beating myself up and realize that it is okay if I slip or stumble. It is okay if I did the same dumb thing today that I did yesterday and the day before. I am trying and I am seeing improvement and change in my life. I may not be doing that same dumb thing that I struggled with last year at this time or even two years ago.

This life is a journey. We will not reach our destination in this life. Our laundry will not be finished in this life. That may seem depressing to some to look at it that way, but to me it is comforting. To know that I don't have to do it all right now, nor do I have to do it all right right now, is very comforting. I can take baby step after tedious baby step to get me to my final destination and hopefully enjoy the journey along the way.