Laundry has never really been my ‘thing’. How on earth I became a “Laundry Mom”, I will never know. Washing clothes is not my passion, I don’t ‘come alive’ when I talk about matching socks, whitening t-shirts, or even line drying in spring time. Laundry has never been a holy experience in my life. Though I have witnessed friends and even my own mom truly enjoy the beauty of freshly starched linens and towels folded with meticulous precision.
However, after leaving home at 18, and spending the next 25 years as an adult woman and mother to a small army, one thing laundry has done for me, is give me a daily opportunity to physically serve, bless, and even train others whom I love and cherish. Dirty laundry, just like dirty dishes, is the evidence that I am living the life God has called me to. Motherhood. My children are my assignment from God. In my book, THAT is a holy experience. Ann Voskamp has beautifully said, about our work, “the truth is that it’s always more than ora et labora, pray and work. No matter what the hands claim is the work, prayer is the work, and the only work that will outlast fire.”
The Laundry pile, much like a nursing infant, is an anchor for me. It tethers me home so I don’t leave my post, my primary ministry…the invitation from the Lord to sit awhile and pray for the ones who are on temporary loan from Him.
So I work, I fold, I pray, and I thank God for this calling.
For further reading, you might enjoy this beautifully written article by Ann Voskamp from her heart straight to ours, that we as mothers come together doing His work all over the world!
Laundry Mom~Erin♥
