Here's to Airing Dirty Laundry

Landry.  For those of you who don't know, this word is actually supposed to fit into the category of four-letter words.  You know the category, "dirty words".  Believe it or not, this used to be one of those household responsibilities that I used to enjoy.  That is until I had to go to a laundry mat... and then had a husband...and then a baby...and now (living here in Barranquilla) I don't have a dryer.

I have spent many a Saturday (and many quarters) sitting on top of an old table in the laundry mat in Franklin Springs, Georgia, waiting on my laundry to get done.  All while working on homework or studying for tests.  While there were two washers and two dryers in Drum Hall (back in the day), I resorted to the laundry mat after having a "stranger" put my wet clothes onto a disgusting table (not once, but twice) because they wanted to use the washer.  Back in the days of singledom, this only took a few hours and all my clothes were then washed, hung up in my closet, or neatly folded and put away.

Then I got married.

At first we didn't have a washer and dryer, so I was still at the laundry mat.  It wasn't that bad in the beginning, I was enthralled with being the perfect wife.  I meticulously folded every shirt and sock.  I reorganized his closet and drawers.  I thought he would be impressed with my fabulous laundry skills.  For some reason, he didn't seem as impressed as I thought he should be.  The neatly folded laundry that had taken me all day to wash and fold, would be found dumped off the bed onto the floor.  Or the basket of freshly folded clothes would be found rummaged through or sitting where I had left it for him to put away...a week later.  One of our first "real" heated arguments was about laundry come to think of it... Sergio seemed to think I needed help with the laundry (as he was needing something in particular washed) and so he helped me.  By washing ONLY his clothes.  (Yep! Now you know why we fought! haha)  Needless to say, the enjoyment of laundry began to fade slightly.

Then, I had a baby.

I never knew what laundry was until this point.  It is still baffling to me how one tiny person can dirty so many outfits.  After she was born, laundry became something that I threw into the washer without dividing it into colors.  I threw it all in the washer with a Color Catcher during the thirty seconds she let me lay her down.  (<--I did so praying that the clothes would come out all right!)  The laundry in my house seemingly came alive.  It grew!  It became piles sitting everywhere in my house.  It became cruel and taunting.  It became a reminder how much I didn't add up.  I mean, who can't keep up their laundry?

My ability to keep the laundry washed, folded and put away became a thing of the past.  It seemed that as soon as I got the last load folded.  It would be a week later and I'd have more laundry and no baskets to put it in because I had never gotten around to putting away the clean clothes from last week.  It seemed to multiply.  As embarrassing as it is to admit, we often had to resort to the "sniff test".  You know this test, it's where you "sniff" something to see if it's clean.

 My inability to keep up with the laundry seriously effected me.  I was certain that I was the worst wife and mother in the world.  Not only was my house a wreck post-baby, now I couldn't even keep the laundry done.  I was doing good to take a shower and get out of my pajamas.  I really seriously allowed dirty laundry to discourage me, lie to me, and lessen me.

So, where am I going with all this?

Just yesterday, I was washing our clothes here in Colombia.  I got up early, checked outside to insure that there was adequate sunshine (This is a very new concept to me!) and started washing.  I washed and hung clothes on a clothesline nearly all day.  All of our clothes (undies and all) were visible to whomsoever wished to see!! Last night, as I folded up the last stack of clean, sunshine kissed clothes, I sighed contently.  What a great feeling it is knowing you're finally caught up. Everything is finally clean.

I felt the Lord speak to my spirit.  How many times do we allow the busyness of life to clutter our hearts and spirits?  We allow things that are of the world to come alive in our lives and we allow them to turn into piles that clutter our hearts, minds, and spirits.  Anger.  Unforgiveness.  Jealousy.  An impure thought life.   When left unwashed, those dirty things begin to lie to us, depress us, confuse us, and lessen us.   I felt the Lord remind me of the importance of doing my heart's laundry even more often than I do my family's laundry.  He reminded me, that I needed to frequently wash my heart and spirit.  That I needed to "air my heart's dirty laundry".  He reminded me of the importance of acknowledging the dirty parts in my heart and life and then gently urged me to hang those things on His clothesline.  We've got to become transparent to God.  We need to become transparent to others.  Just as our clothes were visible on that clothesline yesterday, we need to allow our hearts to be visible to God and others.  Others need to be able to see what God has done with the dirty laundry in our lives.  We also need to stop judging others for their dirty laundry.  We need to help them clean it! We need to allow Him to help us wash the dirty things out of our hearts, minds, and spirits.  We need to do this, so that when we lay down at night, we can breathe a sigh of contentment knowing that all is clean and right in our lives.

It is my prayer and my heart always remain pure and cleaned of any dirty laundry that tries to make its home in my heart.  Psalm 51, verses 1-3, 10-12 have become my heart's prayer and cry:

 Have mercy on me, O God,  according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.