Being married has taught me so many things about myself. Some revelations that I love. Some I wish would have never reared their ugly head. For example, laundry. It’s the one chore I’ve grown to despise. It’s there everyday no matter how many loads I wash. I just can’t keep up. It didn’t always used to be this way. I used to prefer laundry over the dishwasher. So what changed?

I’d love to blame my husband for being over 6 feet, resulting in his clothes nearly filling the washer by themselves at the end of the day. Or that it’s my child’s need to change clothing twice a day because as a boy, he gets very messy.

But this morning I realized something that threw an uncomfortable sucker-punch to my pride. I had just asked Jesus to just make all the laundry miraculously clean and then I promised to keep up with it going forward.

I heard him whisper, “You won’t keep up with it. You can’t.”

Now if you’ve ever told a woman she can’t do something, you know the angry-pride reaction I felt stirring up. But then I heard a gentle reminder,

“You can’t do everything, but I can. If you weren’t aware of your limitations, you wouldn’t be aware of your need for me.” 

Woah.

Then the deeper meaning behind my hatred of laundry surfaced…it’s my constant visual reminder that I can’t do it all. That I do fall short as a perfect wife, mom, and woman.

It’s how Satan sneaks in and plants the seed of doubt in my abilities, my worth and my identity. 

But I’m learning to instead see that pile of clothes as a beautiful reminder that Jesus died and took my shortcomings and failures and sin. And I am now able to rest in him and experience fullness and blessings and favor as a child of God.

My abilities are limitless in the power of Jesus, my worth is found in who He says I am, and my identity is rooted in my Father. 

No, this doesn’t make me love laundry and I still won’t be able to keep up with it all, but it does change my perspective. Instead of seeing it as a burden, I’ve chosen to see the blessings. I have a family who has clothes to wear, and I have the ability to make sure the clothes are clean. Even though I can’t get everything done, I am blessed with the chance every single day to serve my family as best I can and serve my Father with a willing heart as I work.

Who knew laundry could be so spiritual?