my life is like the laundry

I'm sure you all know the feeling. You had a great get-away weekend. The family played hard, stayed up later than usual and had a great time.

Then Monday morning comes and you are facing five suitcases full of dirty laundry. Plus five more laundry baskets of clean laundry that you never folded last Friday in the rush to leave town.

Somehow, more piles of laundry have planted themselves and started multiplying in bedrooms while you were away.

My whole life has been feeling like the laundry lately.

When I look at the piles, the task seems too big to bear. Where should I even begin? Perhaps if I just ignore the baskets of dirty they will go away. And worse yet, I can't even look at those baskets of clean that have to be folded, carried and stuffed into drawers that are already bursting with clothes.

But then I decide to take it one step at a time. Give it an hour. Focus. Don't answer the phone. Keep moving ahead.

At the end of the hour, all five baskets of clean are folded. I've even managed to go through the boys' drawers and sort out all of the too small clothes. I actually have room to put the clean clothes away!

I'm starting to be able to breathe better now. Stay focused. I have a system to make this easier, but I have to use it. Dirty clothes go in the brown baskets. Clean clothes are thrown in the white baskets. Otherwise, my husband will find the basket of clean clothes in a brown basket and wash them all over again.

I make rules for myself. I'm not allowed to put another load in the washer until I have folded and put away at least one of the white baskets.

I'm really making progress. I even bought fabric softener for the first time in more than a year and my house is starting to smell good!

Oh, but let's face it. This won't last long. As soon as all of the laundry is done, the dirty will be piling up in the baskets once again. There's always more to do. I've just finished and already I'm starting to feel overwhelmed.

At least my life isn't like laundry in every way. I prefer to do the laundry myself. In 11 years of marriage, I have fired my husband from the job at least 37 times. I just don't like it when my favorite shirt shrinks or my PJs are hanging in the closet. I like to do it my way.

Thankfully, I don't have to go it alone when facing those dirty piles in real life. God has been guiding me through some challenging situations lately. And he seems to send just the right person across my path at the most unexpected moments.

And while he's not the best at folding and putting away clothes, my husband couldn't be better at sorting through the laundry of life together.

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Come back tomorrow and find out how my life is like cleaning the toilet. (Oh... you know I'm only kidding!)