laundry day.

Often I allow the mundane chores of life to overwhelm me. I walk by an overflowing laundry basket or a sink full of dishes and instantly start tensing up. Laundry especially seems to have a life of it's own, like a parasite that only grows larger when I try to make it disappear. Some days I'm fooled into thinking, "I'm finally done" only to walk by a room (usually all of them) and see folded clothes not yet put away and baskets overflowing with more dirty clothes.

The story of the Bible is set in a world that was once perfect and harmonious, but which has been marred by humanity's rebellion against God. This perfect world, which was a gift from God to his people so that they could live peaceably and work fruitfully was corrupted and stained, but not totally destroyed. Peace in this world was no longer guaranteed, and work would require constant toil and sweat to produce "fruit" and keep away the "thorns."

It may sound silly, but I actually see my laundry, and my inability to ever conquer it, as fitting into this story. And, because the Bible's story ends not with rebellion, but with redemption, it helps to keep me from going crazy when I walk by those doors and see another pile of clothes. I remember that because I live in this broken world my work doesn't ever really come to an end, but that there is a real hope that one day the toil and sweat and thorns will be taken away. So today, even laundry can have meaning as I work to produce fruit (or clean clothes) in a world of thorns (or muddy puddles).

The other day I was thinking of some of this as Oliver, Abi and I sorted our laundry into a rainbow. (can you even tell in the pictures?) Somehow, by looking for beauty and fun in the dirty mess, the constant routine of washing, drying, folding, dirtying, washing, drying, folding, dirtying... didn't seem so bad. And today, as I am in that laundry cycle all over again, I am reminded that there is a "backstory" to life in this world, one that gives meaning both to the mundane, and even painful things in this world, as well as to the beautiful and delightful.