When prayer is a little like doing the laundry …

I actually love to do the laundry. The whole sorting by color and separating into specific piles and putting them in the machine then walking away makes me feel like I have accomplished volumes.  I don’t mind doing laundry all year long, but I personally find the time of year when I can hang the clothes on the line exhilarating.  I know sounds a bit questionable, but let me clarify a bit.

I would never call myself queen of domesticity. In fact, I would rather read a book, research a new topic, or write than get out the vacuum or scrub something.  During the school year, it is too hard for me to keep up with deep cleaning so I really just get by until I have to clean out of necessity. ( like I can’t find something  or my piles are now a little too high and unsightly, have you ever been there?)  I remember a friend of mine once telling me that in order to self-preserve, I had to come to terms with my limitations and be ok with imperfection. Well, the neat-freak that married my extremely organized husband over 20 years ago has been delivered and imperfection has become a consistently worn covering some days. In a bout of frustration, my dear husband gave me grace telling me all that really mattered was that his clothes were clean and a good meal was waiting for him at the end of the day. Fantastic!  I love to cook and I actually like doing the laundry. Whew!  I was set.

So back to the clothesline….

The only thing that generally pulls me from the books, besides my family, is the lure of the sun on my face and the feel of the warmth on my skin, with the dirt squishing between my toes. I love this time of year. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else and feeling so blessed; daily I give thanks to God for the reprieve of the winter’s chill before the summer’s heat-wave rolls in. It is in these transition seasons that the Midwest is a haven of blessing, and a visual reminder of God’s message of hope in the hard work and resting from the labor as we watch the farmers planting and preparing for their expected harvest.

Laundry gives me an immediate sense of accomplishment, just like prayer.

One of the reasons I like doing the laundry is because I can literally SEE what I have accomplished. When I hang clothes on my line, I can visualize the effort expended as I purposely placed them on the line.  There was a time, before kids of course, that I even color coded the laundry as I hung it out. Of course I don’t do that anymore, but I do still have a method I follow.  Mostly, however, hanging laundry is the perfect time to pray.

Regardless of how finicky or laid back you may be when it comes to hanging the clothes on the line, it still takes time; time is a commodity we often feel we no longer have.  Time is prayer’s best friend, really, because it takes time to meet with God.

This last winter was so cold and long, here in Northern Illinois that I was quite delayed in the annual christening of the clothesline this spring.  I felt somewhat giddy as I strolled down the hill to the line draped poles adorned with my grandmother’s clothespin bags, a new addition to the scene.  Looking at them makes me smile and remember the lessons she taught me about hanging clothes on the line and the importance of serving my family well by taking care of them.

The opportunity to battle strongholds while taming the wrinkles in the linen lightens my load, in more ways than one.

As I shake out the wrinkles and smooth down the seams of the wet garments, I remembered her words and I sigh with joy at the gift of doing laundry that day. With each shirt I would ask for His blessing upon the wearer.   Lifting the wet clothes from the basket reminded me of the weight of sin upon my shoulders;  how heavy and difficult it is to bear these burdens alone.  I thought of Matthew 11 when Jesus invited us to come and switch out our burden for His own, to take His yoke upon our shoulders so that He could bear the weight of ours.

It is humbling to feel the weight of His heart’s cry laid  upon our own as we seek him, interceding for others in prayer.   When we lift up the prayers, there is a freedom and a lightness that exists, just like the weight of the clothesline now holds the garment with just the pinch of a pin and the burdens roll off as easily as the line bounces with the weight of the material.

As I continue to lift up  shirt corner to   shirt corner and pair the socks before I suspend them from the line, I continue to pray for those He has put on my heart: my children and husband, my church, and my family,  and whatever else comes to mind.  When my hands are active with the ease of habit my mind can focus, prayer instinctively pours out of my lips.

Finally, I stand back to see the material flapping in the wind.  I feel the fresh breeze float through my heart and there is a crisp cleanness that comes with time in communion with God.  Prayer leaves us clean and fresh and ready for the tasks ahead of us.

Sorting, washing, folding, all resemble the path I follow as I lay my requests before my King.

I smiled then, because I had an epiphany in the moment as I realized that prayer is a lot like doing the laundry.  We need to sort out the dirty coverings that keep our heart from feeling clean and fresh, by coming to God with repentant hearts and confession our lips.

The washing which cleans the residue that the world leaves upon us, clinging and sticking, is quickly brushed off by the cleansing of the Word and the filling of His Holy Spirit.  The wash-tank of prayer gently spins and wrings us dry so that we can lift up our head and our hearts and open wide our arms to be dried by the breath of God blowing across our being, flapping in the wind of his promise and basking in the light of His forgiveness.

A spirit of prayer sets us up for significant moments of victory in our day.

I walk away from the clothesline refreshed, thankful, and resigned to tackle the  next project on my list, but maybe now from a different angle, because I am armed with the fruits of the spirit and the blessings of fellowship that only prayer can bring into our lives.

So I am going to challenge you with a question… what is your favorite household task and why?   I started thinking that if I approached everything as an opportunity to pray then I would not only have a clean house but find that my tank is so full of His glorious love that I would find joy in all I am called to do.  That is a serious prospect worthy of intense consideration.

Praying for you to be filled with His sweet spirit today and dried by his wind of grace.

Blessings,

King David wrote psalms that are prayers of the heart. One of my favorites, Psalm 51, feels a little like doing the laundry of my heart. It is a little long, but it is truly worth the time investment to read and ponder.

Psalm 51

Linking up with gentle hearts tonight:

Ann @ Multitudes on Mondays

Sybil @ Make a Difference Mondays