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The Secret to Everything - Even Laundry
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The Secret to Everything – Even Laundry
By Cheryle M. Touchton
Director - Pocket Full of Change Ministries
I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Phil 4:13 NIV
Loving God and our neighbors is the secret to everything – even laundry. When I was 12 years old, I remember standing at a sink, arms deep in soapy water, hand washing my clothes and vowing to find a way to get out of laundry. Back then, washing machines did not have a “hand wash” or delicate cycle so most of my clothing required hand washing. As I scrubbed, water flew everywhere and when I finished, I had to clean the kitchen and myself. The clothes I hung on the clothesline grew stiff with the soap remaining in them and had to be rinsed again. I discovered at an early age that I was naturally bad at laundry. I decided that I would do whatever it took to one day be among that crowd that could afford a housekeeper.
At 16, I overheard my boyfriend, Bob, arguing with my mother about my doing laundry. He wanted to go to the movies. Mama wanted my clothes clean. In desperation my mother exclaimed, “If you eventually marry my daughter, you will want her to know how to do this stuff.”
His answer, “When she marries me, I’ll make sure she has a housekeeper.” I knew right then that this was the man of my dreams.
Bob and I married young. Struggling college students couldn’t afford housekeepers so I was once again stuck doing laundry. I was still bad at laundry and had no training in keeping up with male socks. One of our earliest arguments was about Bob’s unmatched, mismatched, and lost socks. At first, I just stuck all socks in the sock drawer. Each morning, Bob fussed and fretted as he tried to find socks that closely resembled each other. Finally, I got the message and tried to match them when they came out of the dryer. That was when I discovered that most male socks looked alike. Try as I might, his socks were mismatched and no matter what I did, I always came out with an odd number of socks. My unsympathetic responses to his constant whining –do it yourself or buy more socks. I was and continue to be puzzled about what a dryer actually does with that extra sock.
Eventually, Bob and I could afford that housekeeper. For years, Bob happily enjoyed matched socks and I enjoyed no laundry duties. Then – God called me into full time ministry. Maybe some in ministry can afford housekeepers but not this humble servant of God. Committing to ministry meant returning to laundry.
If I was going to do laundry, I wanted to do it correctly. I read articles about laundry. I bought an upstairs and downstairs sophisticated 4-pocketed laundry cart on wheels. As we remove our clothes, we pre-sort them and place them in the downstairs laundry cart. Each Monday, Bob hauls the 4 bags of presorted laundry upstairs and takes the upstairs empty bags down stairs. It is my responsibility to wash and since I have matured some, I make an honest effort to delight my husband with matched socks. I have no idea if he notices but at least I’m trying. Unfortunately, this job is still beyond my natural talents and abilities.
One bright and sunny Monday morning, I stood staring at 5 clean un-matched socks and all the past insecurities rushed over me.
Where were the missing socks? I asked God. God didn’t answer.
I can’t do this, I calmly explained. Should I leave ministry and return to corporate life so I can afford a housekeeper? After all, you gave me my talents and abilities and shouldn’t I be doing what I’m good at? Why are you laughing at me?
Help me, I whispered, as I joined God in His laughter. Somewhere, I’d read that God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. If God was going to call me to do laundry, He was going to have to equip me as well.
I unrolled all the male socks to see if they were mismatched. All the rolled socks had the correct mates and the 5 lonely socks seemed to be crying for their mates. I peeked back in the drier and found 4 socks clinging together in the corner. I remembered those tiny white sheets that said they fought static cling and committed to actually using them. I never did find the 5th sock and it probably will turn out to be one of Bob’s favorite socks. Fortunately, Bob has also matured some and won’t say a word. I wondered why none of my socks ever hid from me.
Loving God with my soul means I accept all assignments from God, even laundry. Part of loving God with all my strength is using that strength to do laundry so I guess I’ll continue in ministry and do laundry. Part of loving God with all of my heart is doing laundry cheerfully so for today, I’ll continue to laugh at myself as I struggle through this difficult assignment from God. Loving God with my mind means remembering to use available resources like static cling sheets. Loving my neighbor as myself means I do my best to give my poor husband matched socks. I claimed the promise, I can do laundry through Him who gives me strength.
Cheryle M. Touchton is a ministry partner with and the Director for Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information or to schedule a speaker for an event go to www.pocketfullofchange.org or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462.
© Pocket Full of Change Ministries
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