Laundry Slave

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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-Luke 12:34

Vacuuming is a pain, and I hate doing the dishes, but laundry is the never-ending chore that seems to suck my life away. I hate doing laundry but fortunately I have enough clothes that I can get by with only doing it about once a month.

After switching the laundry from washer to dryer a few weeks ago I felt a sense of accomplishment, “ah, the dreaded chore is almost done.” But then I realized, its not! Because after I pull it out of the dryer I have to haul it back upstairs, fold it, distribute it to the appropriate places—towels in the closet, table cloths and linens in the dining room, clothes to my room—and finally I have to actually put it away in the appropriate drawers. I’m pointing out these seemingly tiny steps because its amazing to me how my false sense of accomplishment will delay for several days or weeks this final destination of my clean laundry from dryer to drawers! It’s not uncommon to find a week old bag of clean laundry unfolded in my room, or clean folded laundry in the living room or bedroom. “It’s soooo close! It’s almost there! Just put it away!”

But then, why bother? The cycle of laundry slavery is just one morning away from starting all over again. I wake up and before I leave the house, all the rejected tops, or bottoms, or belts, etc., are strewn amongst the dirty, or folded-but-not-put-away clothes. My room would be pretty clean most of the time if it wasn’t for all my laundry and shoes all over the place.

And that’s when this joke of laundry slavery stops being so funny. It’s still sort of funny, but now its also really true. My laundry owns so much of my time. Be it the tedious process of cleaning it, or putting it away, to the mornings where I stand in front of my satiated closet lamenting that “I have nothing to wear.” This slavery goes on to infect not only my time but also my mind (and money). I flip through fashion magazines or notice other women and I think about the things I don’t have or I make a mental note of the things I need. But it doesn’t even end there because then I have to shop for these clothes, and when my closet gets too full I have to sort and give these pieces away by the bag full, with usually an article or two that was never worn.

It’s not just my clothes; it’s my shoes too. It’s the jewelry, the must have Mac gadgets, or more music from iTunes. I don’t know, maybe its the American culture of consumerism, or entitlement, or immediate gratification…probably its all those things, but mostly it just makes me feel okay about myself. New clothes make me feel beautiful, successful, wanted…at least for a little while, until I’m home slaving over my pile of finicky fabrics.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
-Luke 12: 22-31